The Chill in the Air
by asc12
Summary: Sweets couldn't remember when he had ever been this cold. How he had gotten in this predicament was fast becoming foggy as well. He knew he had to stay awake though because there is a serial killer on the loose with young lives in the balance and only Sweets knows who he is. Now if he just wasn't so cold...
1. Chapter 1

Why you may ask is there a new story when the explosion story is unfinished? Well because I have been in the processes of a move and I have lost part of the story! I am hoping it is on the other laptop but I'm feeling creative at the moment and have to write something. So we'll see how writing two stories side by side goes! Let's hope they don't get intertwined.

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Sadly, I still do not own Bones but if you see a nice looking set covered in sexy skin just let me know the digits! (That's a terrible disclaimer but it exists nonetheless).

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The Chill in the Air

Season 8 or 9, anything post Daisy

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"Good morning sports fans! It's a cold this morning at the nation's capital as the high today is going to be about 8 degrees. Bundle up and stay warm!" The morning announcer blared in Sweets ear as he inched forward in morning traffic.

The thin layer of ice that had settled over the night hours had left motorists struggling to remember how they did the exact same thing just last year. Sweets wondered why people tended forget every year that they could easily maneuver the ice but it was going to take them all a few more storms to bring their memory and their confidences up to speed, literally.

While Sweets was anxious to get out of his car that was apparently acting up in the heating department he was not in all that big of hurry to get to work for he knew what was waiting for him there.

"Hey, he's finally here!" Booth called as Sweets stepped by the conference room. The couple of other agents took the announcement as a subtle suggestion that they leave.

"Right, let me just get settled in, get a cup of coffee." Sweets said turning to leave.

"What?" Booth asked quickly setting down his steamy cup of java. "No, no, no, we've got to work, like now buddy."

Sweets sighed as he sat his coat and briefcase down in the chair. He knew he should have stopped at his office first but he also knew this case was a pressing matter. Booth began to talk but Sweets could only admire Booth's hot cup of coffee. He was still cold from the car and the hike from the parking lot to the building.

"Sweets are you listening?" Booth asked borderline irritated.

"Yeah, I was just uh, what was that again?"

"Pay attention Sweets. We don't have much time here. It's cold out you know."

"Yeah, the heat's apparently broke in my car. My toes are frozen." He added looking at his feet covered in dress shoes, not known for their heat conductive qualities.

"Well you can defrost while you take a look at what we've got so far." Booth said reaching for a stack of manila file folders. "Anna Harding, age 15 on the way home from private school two days ago. She lives with her parents, good relationship with them, good kid, affluent family up in Rochester Heights. She didn't make it home. Her body was found yesterday afternoon. Bones is going over the remains now."

"Dr. Brennan, why would she have skeletal remains so quickly?" Sweets asked confused. He hadn't been given many details when he was called at five this morning except to hurry in, that it was urgent.

"They body had been covered in lye."

"Wow, so they wanted to conceal the identity of the girl." Sweets suggested.

"I don't think so, they left her back pack with the body. Her school ID, her papers, etc. were with her." Booth explained.

"So we could surmise that they wanted to deeply disturb the parents with the condition of the remains." Sweets said, his voice lower this time as he looked over the grizzly crime scene photos from the folder. "What was the cause of death?"

"Not sure yet, Bones and the squints are looking it all over."

"I don't mean to sound callous but what is the hurry Booth?" Sweets asked preferring to close the folder on the photos. More folders were handed to him.

"Melissa Phillips, age 15, same school, same neighborhood, went missing two weeks ago. Her parents didn't report it, until Anna Harding's body was found. Melissa Phillips father apparently does business on both sides of the law and he thought his daughter was being held captive until a deal would be offered. He had a team of private detectives working on it. She hasn't been found but I suspect they are related."

Sweets was about to ask why they would be related but he knew to not question Booth on this, while "gut feelings" weren't a psychology standard he trusted them in the same way that Booth trusted Sweets' own deductions.

Booth continued. "Looking back thru the files I found about six months ago there was an attack on a girl, Molly Edwards, 14. She was alive after being returned by the man who assaulted her. She had filed a report but the report was redacted a few days later. The family then put their house up for much below the value and moved."

"Sounds like they were anxious to leave." Sweets said skimming the report.

"The detective made notes in the case. He got the impression that the family was pressured by someone in the community to not report the crime." Booth said with a tone that suggested a great deal of unhappiness about this.

"If that one was redacted then how many others were possibly never reported?" Sweets mused looking over the Edwards case. The girl had been enticed to help with directions and forced into a car. She was blindfolded and assaulted only to be let free in front of her family's home. A sketch was included of the woman who lured the girl into the car but she reported male voices during the attack.

"So the attacker, if these cases are related, is escalating from attacks to vicious murders." Sweets assumed.

"And he's in an intensifying rush. Another girl went missing on her way to school this morning. Laurie Andrews."

"This morning? That is a quick escalation." Sweets said looking at the thin folder handed over, though more pages were sure to be filled in soon.

"You see now why we are in a hurry." Booth said sitting back down.

Sweets nodded as he read the file, same as the rest though Laurie Andrews was 16. The rest was the affluent family, uptown neighborhood, same school.

"Were these girls friends?" Sweets asked.

"No, for a private school it's has big classes and the ages range from freshmen to juniors. There was no connection seen so far but we can go to the school and interview the girls. I need something to go on Sweets. If this girl is out there somewhere, it's cold out and time is growing short. I've got officers and agents all over the area but I don't think she's there. The body of Anna Harding was found in a playground downtown."

Sweets forgot about his cold toes and pulled out a note pad and pen from his briefcase. He quickly arranged the files in an order that he found to be helpful to him. Booth stood back for a moment to watch him work then left the room.

By the time Booth returned Sweets had two pages of notes. Sweets barely noticed when Booth sat down a steaming cup of hot coffee next to Sweets who automatically drank it not realized it had materialized.

Booth's phone rang and he quickly answered it.

"Hey Bones, got anything?"

"I do." She said over a speaker phone and Booth could hear the other squints were present. He considered turning the phone to speaker himself so Sweets could hear but he was scanning the files with a ferocious concentration he didn't want to break. He stepped out in the hall.

"Okay, what did you find?" Booth asked with his full concentration on her now.

Brennan remembered that Booth didn't like explanations in terms he didn't understand so she kept it simple. "The victim was strangled, though death was not immediate. It would appear that the killer began to strangle the victim then let go, only to repeat the process, shortening the breaths each time. It does appear she fight though she was restrained."

"That does give us something to go on Booth." Hodgins said coming on the line. "I did find a small trace amount not destroyed by the lye since it was protected. The fiber is from a rope but not just any rope, this is some old, old rope and thick too. I ran a search and found it would be used in commercial settings of old buildings like a theater or churches sometimes."

"Good, I think." Booth said not so sure. "Let me know if you find anything else." He said hanging up after saying goodbye. He really wanted to find the girl but he held deep fears that would not happen. He felt helpless that she was probably suffering at that very moment but he was powerless to stop it. He may have been all too upset over that thought as he reentered the conference room leaving Sweets to bear the brunt of his foul mood.

"I think I may have something here Booth." Sweets said glancing up to see him return.

"Yeah what?" Booth said in a sour tone. Sweets noticed it immediately and pushed away the urge to want to discuss it with him. The case was more pressing at the moment.

"Molly Edwards, she was returned to her parent's home right?" Sweets asked hoping he hadn't gotten the cases mixed up. Booth gave him an exasperated sigh. "Well Anna Harding was found in a downtown park, the park was in the courtyard below the office building her father worked in."

This caught Booth's attention. No one else had caught that. He knew that was why he had Sweets on his team.

"We need to find out where Laurie Andrews parents work or live." Booth said immediately opening the phone.

"It reads here that the mom is a housewife and the dad is a lawyer for some big law firm in midtown. Which is interesting because…." Sweets trailed off as he went back to reading.

Booth ordered agents to look around the area of the house or the father's law firm. If she had been killed already then he wanted to find the body before the parents did. Still he it wasn't quite nine, they might still have time. Booth told Sweets about the rope the squints had found.

Sweets nodded but Booth could tell he was concentrating on something else.

"What were you saying, something was interesting?" Booth asked.

"Oh yea, Laurie Andrews father is a lawyer, Anna Harding's father is a contractor."

"So?" Booth asked unamused.

"Both of whom were hired by Melissa Phillips shady father. I wonder if there is a connection with Molly Edwards." Sweets mused.

"Let's concentrate on how to find this girl, Molly Edwards is long gone. I can't even find her. Her father must have called in some big favors." Booth added.

"The fact that the girls were lured off the street tells me that they knew someone or trusted the person though Molly Edwards was giving directions." Sweets was looking over his papers and Booth was growing aggravated. Sweets wanted to roll his eyes that he wasn't a magician who could weed thru pages and instantly produce results. He knew Booth wanted to race out of the office and save the girl, carrying her alive back to her parents. Sweets said nothing and went back to his train of thought.

Sweets mind raced. _Impressionable teenage girls, same neighborhood, same school, all rich, all privileged. Fathers know each other. Who would exploit that? What does the aggressor gain from taking them. He wants to get to the parents. He's displaying them for the parents to see, seems like the fathers. The fathers are in business together…_

"I'm going to the school." Booth said breaking Sweets from his train of thought. "I want to see if I can find out if any of the other girls may have not reported something."

Sweets nodded as Booth left. He knew Booth had to be in motion. Sweets had to think, he sipped his cold coffee and rubbed his still cold toes together. _The fathers are in business together…._


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry, I was all out of sorts with the move arrangements and couldn't get focused. Feeling better now so let's get this mystery on!

I just realized that in my out of sortness that I do not own Bones. And here I bet you thought I could! Just plasma.

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2.

"Dean Anthony?" Booth asked as he stepped in the administrator's office.

"Agent Booth." Dean Anthony said welcoming him but in a very reserved manner. Booth could tell that the man was welcoming him in but he didn't want to. Booth's suspicions were raised. "What can I do for you Agent Booth?"

"You do know of the disappearances of three of your students correct?" Booth asked surprised about his nonchalant manner.

"Yes, it's sad about Anna Harding but I don't see what it has to do with any others." He said very even and distant.

"There do appear to be connection. Tell me Mr. Anthony, do you feel the student body here feels they can get help if it's needed?" Booth asked.

"It's Dr. Antony and of course, we have tutor programs and…"

"I mean, if one of the students were in trouble, guidance counselors…"

"We don't employ guidance counselors here Mr. Booth." Dr. Anthony said and Booth noticed the man's jab by dropping his title in return. Booth decided to let it go and cream this guy on something later.

"Where do students go if one needed help?"

"We are an all-girls Catholic school, the girls are expected to be ladies at all times. If they have a problem they can speak to their priest or their parents."

Booth tried not to be shocked by the answer. He was pretty sure most teenage girls did not go to their priest for a personal issue any more than she would her father.

"Now if there is anything else agent…" Anthony said standing to lead Booth out.

"I'd like to talk to some of the students. Ones that would know the missing girls." Booth said.

"Agent, the students are trying to learn.."

"I can bring a whole team of agents and some search warrants in if you prefer."

Dean Anthony sighed. "Fine agent, just please be discreet."

Booth walked to the secretary who waited for the Dean to shut the door before she helped Booth. Booth noticed.

"I can save you some time, what do you need to know about the girls." The secretary offered. Booth was curious what she would say against what other students might say. He wanted to gauge how much the administration might bury the issue.

"Sure, what can you tell me about them?"

"Phillips, Harding and Andrews, all very mean girls." The elderly secretary explained. She had an obvious distaste for them.

"Really, how do you mean?"

"They would tease other girls mercilessly, ones that they didn't deem to be stylish or up to their standards. They did some mean things. That Harding girl, she told one girl repeatedly how ugly she was, she started wearing makeup. Harding emptied a tube of superglue in her mascara when she wasn't looking. Andrews, she stole a girl's clothes from the locker room and left a note that if she was going to wear poor people's brands she was better with none. She threatened all the other girls that if they went in and helped her they'd be next. Poor girl had to run out of there past everyone naked."

"Why doesn't administration stop them?" Booth asked.

"Harding's farther is a lawyer, the school's lawyer. Andrew's dad is a contractor. This is a very old building Agent Booth, he's doing all the work at cost. No one stops it." She said realizing she was in on that "they" situation though it was obvious she felt powerless about it.

"And no one breaks these girls apart?" Booth asked.

"What do you mean? They've not a gang Agent Booth. I don't even think they know each other."

Booth was surprised at that and decided to go and interview some other students. "Thank you." Booth added while walking away.

He soon found the same stories when he interviewed a handful of other girls. They either emitted a vibe of admiration of the behavior of the girls or fear of them. One surprising fact became clear to him, they didn't know each other. Apparently the bad girl behavior was a sort of competition at the school. They didn't run in teams or gangs, they tried to one up the other. It was either join in or be the one at the receiving end.

"So these four were the worst?" Booth asked one girl who agreed. "Molly Edwards, Melissa Phillips, Anna Harding and Laurie Andrews."

"Molly Edwards?" The girl asked. "Who's that?"

Booth considered the fact that she had left some time ago, this girl may not have remembered her.

"I assumed you meant Liz Sanders. She's one of the worst too." The girl said before walking away as class was starting.

"You're asking about Molly Edwards?" A girl asked stopping Booth. Booth was jotting down the name "Liz Sanders" as she spoke and just now looked up to see her. She was a plain sort of girl who looked like she was trying very hard to fit in. Booth instantly felt for her as he realized she was one that these girls probably focused to pick on.

"Yes, did you know Molly Edwards?"

"Yeah, I did. She wasn't one of the mean girls. She got picked on though, a lot." The girl said but the classroom door swung open.

"Class! Now!" The teacher shouted and she was soon ushered in. Booth got the feeling that the teacher did not want the girl talking to him.

With no one left to interview Booth headed towards the car. He out the front door when he heard bells ring overhead. He turned to see the tall tower when a detail of the case came back to mind.

Booth went back in the door and slipped up the tower steps quietly. He preferred not to explain what he was doing to the people who did nothing about much of anything.

Booth was no stranger to old bells in Catholic churches. He knew they were swung by large old ropes. Old ropes like the fibers that Hodgins found. He located the end of one rope and removed a pocket knife to cut a section off and put it in a plastic bag he had in his pocket. Assuming how this place operated, he wouldn't be surprised if the rope was most literally, tied to this place.


	3. Chapter 3

3.

Booth was going to call Sweets on his way back with his news but he quickly found himself embroiled in a growing concern. Liz Sanders did not come back from her off campus lunch.

"Hey Sweets." Booth said looking at his phone as he walked in the office. "We've got a problem."

Sweets looked up from behind literally stacks of papers with an unamused face. _Problem? I've got a problem, my toes are still cold, I haven't had breakfast **or** lunch, save for this cold cup of coffee, I've got a pounding headache from going thru thousands of pages of financials._ Instead Sweets just looked up and gave half a fake smile, all he could muster.

"What's up?" He asked instead.

"We might have another missing girl."

Sweets fake smile faded.

"Liz Sanders, 16. Another one of the mean girls."

Sweets turned his head in confusion at that and Booth explained what he had learned.

"I've got agents all over looking for this girl." He added.

"And you think the killer might have her too?"

"She fits the profile. All except for Molly Edwards, she was on the receiving end of this treatment, not issuing it."

"It's interesting that you say that." Sweets said tossing aside some piles of papers and pulling out others.

"What is all this anyway Sweets?" Booth asked in a way that suggested Sweets had been playing around doing endless word puzzles instead of helping with the case. Sweets resented the tone but instead explained.

"I was looking at the financials of the three girl's fathers. They all seem to be in business together." Sweets explained and Booth realized that's what all the papers were.

"Doesn't surprise me, they have the school wrapped around their finger doing work for them. I also dropped off a sample of rope from the church's bells. It wouldn't stun me in the least to know that place is involved."

"Well the only thing with all these financials is that they all add up. When I wasn't finding much I started to work with Angela. She ran them thru some software since there are like, literally millions of transactions listed here but the thing is they look legit. Well, maybe not Melissa Phillips father's transactions because he's a bit shady but still, there are no big payoffs. They seem to just be really successful."

"That's not really a crime Sweets."

"I know that, it's just there, has to be some connection between them."

Booth's phone rang. The somber look on his face by the end of the call didn't sound like good news.

"They found Laurie Andrews body. At one of the sites under her father's construction company." Booth explained.

"Lye?" Sweets asked.

"Burned." Booth answer somber. "I'll head there now. Bones and them are on their way."

Sweets didn't say anything more. Despite learning of the girls unfriendly disposition they neither were pleased to hear such news.

"I'll keep looking." Sweets said knowing that now Liz Sanders was most likely missing and at this rate, maybe more.

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"There's not a great deal I can probably tell you. At least not from here." Brennan said over the remains of Laurie Sanders.

"Did you find anything on that rope I gave you?" Booth asked to Hodgins.

"Yeah." Hodgins began. "It was a match to the sample from Anna Harding's body."

"I won't be able to tell if the cause of death was the same until we get the body back to the Jeffersonian. There is a great deal of damage here." Cam explained.

"Angela can administer some scans that may give us a closer look at the body." Brennan offered though she preferred working with the bones personally. Based on the number of bodies that had been heading their way, she would however accept help from almost anywhere.

"I don't know, Angela has been pretty busy helping Sweets." Hodgins said with a raised eyebrow.

"You sound jealous Hodgins." Booth said with a laugh.

"Is Dr. Sweets not able to do his job?" Brennan asked. Booth knew she didn't approve of Sweets field but he also knew how hard Sweets had been working this morning on this.

"We can all use a little help from Angela." Booth reminded her as she had just suggested the help of the computer herself. Brennan realized that and shrugged.

"How about lunch?" Brennan asked as she continued to examine the remains. It amazed Booth how she could talk about food in conditions like these.

Booth's phone rang and he answered again with a somber expression. "They found Liz Sanders phone. She tried to dial 911." Booth said adding that he wasn't really hungry and would have to take a rain check.

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"So go back to the previous one, what is the deficit showing there?" Sweets was asking Angela via webcam as Booth walked in.

"Same as before, he was definitely losing money." Angela confirmed.

"What's going on?" Booth asked entering the room.

"I think we might be on to something." Sweets said nearly excited.

Booth hoped so, it was two in the afternoon, there was a second girl missing at and the rate they were disappearing he wasn't feeling at ease.

"Yeah I'm pretty sure there has to be a connection." Angela said as she continued to tap away.

Booth looked at the mass of spreadsheets now not only limited to the conference table but the computer screen as well. He didn't know what to make of any of it and was getting irritated.

"Pretty sure?" Booth asked irritated though he didn't intend to direct it towards Angela.

"Hey." Sweets said a bit angry for Booth snapping at Angela. "We're working on this." Sweets said and wanted to add that they had been working on it non-stop for the last nine hours but he kept that to himself.

"Fine, what did you find in all these numbers and figures?" Booth asked not feeling like this was going to lead anywhere useful.

"The only girl that doesn't fit into the equation, Molly Edwards. I don't think she was a victim, not of this killer." Sweets explained.

"Well Sweets, eliminating victims isn't really going to help us find the missing girls." Booth explained.

"It might." Angela said irritated with Booth now. "Let me explain what Sweets found." She tapped her screen and figured and charts appeared that were quickly losing Booth's limited interest.

"Harding, Andrews, Phillips, even Sanders all had fathers who are _very _successful. All but Molly Edwards. Her father was hemoragining money." Angela explained.

"I don't think they sold their house below market value just because of what happened to Molly." Sweets explained. "They sold it because they _had_ to leave town."

"After what you found I did some digging and this community around this school is pretty tight knit. It's not just the girls that are pretty rough to their peers." Angela said.

Sweets continued. "It looks as though Molly Edwards father was also in business with the rest of them, they _all _network. The girls don't know each other, not closely but the parents, they all network, use each other's businesses to build their own up. Which would be an interesting success model except for the fact that for the Edwards family, they faltered and they got cut out of the whole social circle big time."

"So how does this have anything to do with the other girls?" Booth asked tired now.

"The Edwards left six months ago but since then there's been a great deal of cash advances on Mr. Edwards accounts." Angela explained.

"Yeah, he's got this cabin up in the mountain. I mean that just screams something crazy going on." Sweets said with a sense of amusement.

Booth stared at him like he was crazy, and bored. Booth's phone rang and he jumped to answer it. Sweets and Angela exchanged a shrug that suggested they were trying their best and they would have to try harder once Booth was off the phone.

"Okay, I gotta go." Booth said telling them and then walking to the door.

"Hey, what?" Sweets and Angela were surprised he wasn't going to hear them out.

"Look, they might have found Liz Sanders body, they're not sure. The squints and I are heading out there." Booth said as he left.

"Did he even listen to us?" Angela asked angry as she leaned against a table.

"I don't think so." Sweets said plopping down in a chair. He gazed at the stacks of papers around him, what now seemed like hours wasted if no one was going to listen.

"Yeah bye." Angela said and Sweets looked up to see she was saying goodbye to Hodgins leaving for their crime scene. She looked back to Sweets. "Looks like we're left behind again."

"Yeah." Sweets said tossing his pencil aside. "I guess we…" He wasn't sure what to say or do.

"Screw this, we're following our lead." Angela said standing up to take off her lab coat.

"What?" Sweets asked sitting up.

"I just know we're on to something here Sweets. We need to dig and I know where. Come pick me up." Angela instructed and Sweets shrugged. He was happy to get out of the room he'd been cooped up in.

He had forgotten until he trudged thru the now lightly falling snow that the heat in his car wasn't working.


	4. Chapter 4

4.

If you like "Sweet" stories there's plenty more under ASC12. I like to come up with more, "well how about if you try this" type approach with this underutilized Bones character…

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"Geez Sweets, how do can you stand this?" Angela said pulling her coat around her tighter. "What is it like two degrees out?"

"I didn't notice the heat wasn't working till this morning." Sweets said trying to keep his own teeth from clattering. "How much father is this place?"

Angela looked at the map on her tablet. "About ten more minutes up this road."

Sweets had an unsettling feeling. He wasn't sure if it was the fact that they were heading to question a suspect who had a cabin up in the mountains, a feeling that made him retrieve his gun before he left the office. Perhaps it was the fact that a steady snow was increasing, he was hungry, tired, irritated and above all else cold. He found an emergency blanket in the trunk and gave it to Angela. He offered his coat but she laughed and said he'd better keep it. She was pretty sure she had more body fat in one finger that Sweets had in his whole body. She laughed as she thought about it, child bearing on the body and skinny Sweets.

"What?" He asked noticing her grin.

"Nothing. I was just keeping my face from freezing." Angela joked.

"Well, after we talk to him we're stopping at that diner we passed a while back from some hot coffee and all the pie that they have." Sweets half joked and half committed to a solid plan.

Angela laughed inwardly again at the idea of Sweets eating five pies and gaining half an ounce and she'd have to spend hours on the treadmill. Oh well, she told herself, she was that way once too.

"Am I still going the right way?" Sweets asked. There appeared to be a snow moving in a few hours ahead of time. It was precluded with the clouds that appeared in a deep cerulean blue that gave everything a strange blue tint that reflected off the deep snow on the ground.

"I hope so." Angela said tapping away on her device. "I'm lost signal. But we should be good, it was just a few minutes at the end of this road."

"There's a lot more snow up here than in the city." Sweets observed. The talk of snow didn't make Angela feel any warmer.

"So if Molly Edwards' dad is involved, do you think he's getting cash? And for doing what? What is his role in all of this?" Angela asked taking her mind off the cold.

"We know he's in need of money. If he's helping the killer then he could be extorting money from Melissa Phillips father."

"What about the others, their bodies have turned up."

"I wonder if the body that Booth left to see was Liz Sanders." Sweets questioned.

"Well I couldn't tell you, looks like I'm out on cell phone service too." Angela said stuffing it back in her pocket.

"Well here we are." Sweets said and wondered what they were about to ask this man. He hadn't taken the lead on questioning people and suddenly what seemed like a good idea was fading fast.

"This looks like a bust." Angela said stepping out of the car into a cold that wasn't that much colder than the inside of the car. The cabin before them looked unused and quiet.

"Well, we came all this way." Sweets said. "And it's the only lead we have on Edwards. Maybe there's something inside that will give us a clue."

"Do we have a warrant?" Angela asked as they approached the door. Sweets went to knock on the door which swung open as it wasn't locked or shut tight.

"Don't need one." Sweets said entering.

"It's warmer in here than outside, which isn't saying much." Angela observed. The place still looked virtually untouched.

"It's shielded from the wind so it's warmer." Sweets said thinking of how he didn't feel like his toes were ever going to get to warm up today. He had no idea how true and not sarcastic that would become.

"See anything?" Angela asked looking around the tiny cabin. It was tidy, simple and without many blaring clues.

"No, you?" Sweets asked back.

"Here's something." Angela said spying a laptop under the simple cot. She heard a creaking overhead and wondered what it must be but continued her work. "Someone must be doing something here." She said flipping it open.

"I'll check this room." Sweets said heading back past the tiny kitchen area to open a door.

Sweets froze instantly when he entered and not just from what was in the room but the room itself. It seemed to be a "cold room," one used to store meats and such at freezing temperatures when living in a cabin, distanced from city amenities. The ten by ten room had shelves stacked with a variety of run of the mill supplies, and some not so run of the mill items.

"Angela?" Sweets said as Angela continued to tap away at the keys of the mysterious laptop.

"Yeah?" She shouted back and heard a sound above again.

"I think you can tell Booth he can stop looking for Liz Sanders." Sweets shouted back and heard a sound above him as well now. It sounded like something was slipping. "I'm guessing Melissa Philips too."

"What do you mean?" She asked getting up and walking to where Sweets was.

She walked in the doorway and stopped immediately to see what Sweets eyes were locked on. The bodies of the two missing girls stacked on a shelf, frozen and dead.

"Oh my God!" Angela shouted in surprise which was immediately followed by another much louder slipping sound.

Sweets looked up as sounds banged on the metal roof over him. Angela instinctively stepped back as the sound crashed overhead. Sweets went to step forward when the beam across the door crashed in blocking the door shut like a lever.

The weight of the snow above came crashing in, irritated by the sounds of their voices creating an avalanche the metal roof was not able to hold up. Sweets was at the opposite end now as the beams broke continued to collapse around him along with the back section of the roof, covering Sweets with metal and snow.

The sound stopped and Angela pushed against the door. It was useless as it was jammed shut. She shouted for Sweets.

"Angela stop!" Sweets shouted and Angela breathed a relief that Sweets was still alive. She soon realized that the noises she was making might cause more of an avalanche.

Realizing it was impossible to get in the door that way, Angela ran out of the cabin and around the side that the room as attached to. She saw the back of the structure was collapsed in which made her heart skip a beat. It was covered in a mound of snow. She ran do the side and began frantically digging out snow as fast her mitten covered hands would allow. She didn't feel cold anymore, she was near a sweat when she hit the corrugated metal siding the shed was composed of. She soon found a seam and was able to pull it back at a corner since the structure was weakened it made the bend possible.

She managed a corner enough to see in at the bottom corner. She couldn't pull much farther with the weight of the snow on it. She peered her head in and saw a glimpse of Sweets.

"Sweets?!" Angela said glad to see him. "Are you alright?"

Sweets was on his chest, face down. He reached up to rub his head which he had hit pretty hard when he was thrown to the floor. He looked to his right and saw the dead frozen girl near having rolled off the shelf. He looked to his left and saw Angela looking in at him. It was a surreal moment he was trying to piece together.

"Been better." He said trying to roll over in the small space but it wasn't much use. He guessed there must be something braced just above him keeping the full weight of the snow from baring down on him though it wasn't far because it didn't give him space to turn over.

"Can you get out?" Angela asked.

"Don't think so." His right arm hurt but he couldn't see why.

Angela didn't think so either. She pulled out her phone but as before there were no towers up this far to get reception off of.

"Can you go for help?" Sweets asked.

"I'm not leaving you in there Sweets." Angela said sticking her head back in the small opening.

"I think you will have to Angela. I'm okay." Sweets lied. He fumbled in his coat pocket and soon wrangled out the keys with his left hand. He was glad at this moment that he always stuck them in his left pocket, leaving his right free for his gun. He wasn't going to need that at the moment he reminded himself sarcastically.

"Catch." Sweets said tossing the keys near the small opening but they fell a bit short. Angela stuck her arm in but couldn't reach them.

Sweets watched as Angela strenuously stretched for the keys just inches from her reach.

"Screw this." Angela said, angry now. "If I can give birth I can do this." She pulled the metal back another inch, almost two having gained energy from her anger. She reached in again and after a slight pinch to her arm, found the keys were in her hand. She pulled her arm back out and saw she had cut her upper arm on the metal. She sucked in air at the bite of the cut.

"Are you okay?" Sweets called and Angela sighed that Sweets, who was pinned to the floor was asking her.

"I'm fine Sweetie, are you sure I should leave?"

"I don't think anyone knows where we are."

Angela knew that was true and in retrospect it was not a smart plan, none of this was although she was pretty sure they found the killer, well, his identity anyway. The thought occurred to her that the actual killer might come back.

"Sweets, Edwards, he could come back."

"Well if he does he's going to have to dig me out to kill me." Sweets added sarcastically. "And in that event I still have my gun."

Angela felt like Sweets was in fairly good spirits.

"Okay, it shouldn't take me long to get back down to service okay. Are you warm enough?"

"Yeah, I've got my overcoat you wouldn't take."

"You can thank me for that later. At that diner for pie and coffee." Angela teased. She didn't hear anything back. "Sweets? Sweets?"

"Yeah?" He said groggier this time than before.

"I'll be back soon, I promise." She said getting up to leave.

Sweets heard her leave and as the cold increased with a sense of loneliness he had nothing to look at now but the frozen blue eyes of Liz Sanders to look back at him. He felt even colder than before.

* * *

Angela got back to the car and nearly panicked when the car did not start on the first turn. She tried a second time and the cold car fired to life. She pulled back down the hillside and began to check her phone for signal.

"Come on!" She kept saying dividing her attention between the road and her phone. Her attention was so drawn to the phone she didn't realize how fast she was going. The rearview mirror lit up with blue and red lights.

"Oh good." Angela said pulling over. As soon as she was at a stop she got out of the car.

"Mam! Stop where you are!" The cop shouted pulling his gun.

"What?" Angela asked surprised. "Oh, no it's not like that. I need your help!"

"Hands on the car mam.'

"Okay enough with the 'mam' sweetie and this isn't funny." Angela said trying to remain reasonable.

"Hands on the car!" The cop shouted and Angela felt a panic rising that he was not listening to her.

"Look, I am in an emergency. I need your help, there's a man trapped."

"Mam, I would advise you to be quiet." The cop said approaching her. Angela soon realized she was being handcuffed. The officer put her cell phone in his pocket as she was being led to the back of the police car.

"Look, this is a misunderstanding." She said from the back of the car. The cop began to run the car plates. "A man is trapped, we need to get him out before he freezes to death!"

The cop wasn't listening.

"Look, I work for the FBI." Angela threatened.

"Your ID reads you work for the Jeffersonian Institute." He said with a voice that was unfamiliar with it.

"That was a mistake, I work _with _the FBI, the guy I'm talking about, he's an FBI agent and he's stuck in a cabin..."

"And why don't I believe you're Dr. Lance Sweets either?" The cop asked getting an ID back on the car ahead.

"Okay, this is all very explainable if we can just get back to the cabin." Angela said trying to sound more sane and calm so he would listen.

"You want to take me to a cabin to get ambushed?" The cop laughed. "Yeah right."

"Listen to me!" Angela shouted now.

"Sit back before I have to taze you!" The cop shouted and Angela did so as that wasn't going to help her. All she could sit and think was of Sweets, pinned to the freezing floor, surrounded by dead girls and snow as the cop pulled away from the car.

* * *

"Hey Sweets, that was a bust." Booth said stepping into the empty conference room. He looked around. "Sweets, where'd you go?"

* * *

On the floor of the cabin high in the woods Sweets felt a cold he had never known before. His toes were of little concern to him now as those as well as his fingertips had a strange and unfamiliar tingle to them.

_Angela will come back soon. Angela will be back, soon. _Sweets repeated over and over.


	5. Chapter 5

5.

ASC: There's nothing like a move to slow down your writing. It's been an irritating process to get everything not so much packed but everything lined up. It's been messing with my head. Ah, a retreat to writing! Wesley1501 and Malibubreeze I'm glad you haven't given up on me! ;)

* * *

"I get one phone call!" Angela shouted as they walked in the small police station.

The officer rolled his eyes as he brought her over to a phone as she frantically dialed Hodgins. Angela tapped her fingers as she thought of how the cops were really going to regret this and hoped they got demoted to crappy cop duty, whatever that was. Her thoughts were deterred as the phone continued to ring only to be answered by an automated response of "I'm on a case right now so I can't answer" message. The cop took the phone away before Angela could dial another number.

* * *

"Hey, has anyone seen Sweets?" Booth asked irritated. The other agents shrugged their shoulders.

"What's going on?" Brennan asked approaching Booth with a bag full of carryout dinner.

"Oh it's Sweets, he just up and disappeared on a case." Booth said rubbing his eyes. "We need to find this guy and he's out some place doing whatever."

"Well you should eat something." Brennan said holding up the bags. "Then maybe you will figure this out."

* * *

_Are my feet numb from the cold or from the weight on them? _Sweets asked himself as he lay on the ground. His cheek hurt as it lay against the cold ground. Sweets stomach turned as it reminded him of his failure to feed it today. He knew he couldn't tend to that issue at the moment. Instead he thought of how he could keep his cheek from freezing to the ground.

Sweets fumbled his left hand to his tie to put between his cheek and the cold ground. He thought it was weird he would feel so warm when it should be feeling so cold. Without much dexterity he eventually got his tie off and thought the coolness felt nice for some reason. There was something about hypothermia he was trying to remember but he was getting confused. He was taking his tie off for some reason but he couldn't quite remember what it was. His cheek hurt, why did his cheek hurt he wondered.

"That's a nice tie." The dead Liz Sanders said to Sweets thru blue lips.

"It is nice. My mom got it for me when I got my new job. It was the last gift she gave me." Sweets said back not realizing the issues with this conversation.

"How come it was the last gift?"

"She died right after I started. My dad too." Sweets thought back to his adoptive parents and was filled with a sadness he hadn't thought about for a while.

"Did they care about you?" The blue lips asked.

"Yes, very much so." Sweets said thinking back to when he came to them and their gentle hugs after the harsh hand he knew before it.

"Too bad my parents weren't like that." The girl with the motionless eyes said to him.

"Why is that?" Sweets asked.

"Not everyone is meant for happiness." The voice said but this time her lips didn't move and Sweets remembered she was dead.

Sweets rubbed his sore head with frosty fingertips. _This is not good._

* * *

"I've been working on the railroad ALL THE LIVE LONG DAY!" Angela sang as loud as she could. "I know a hundred annoying children's songs you know!"

"Look miss if you don't stop…" A different cop said coming to the cell.

"Please shut her up!" A large man in the opposing cell pleaded. "I can't take it anymore."

"Well maybe you shouldn't have robbed three gas stations then!" The cop shouted to him, at the end of his rope with the both of them.

"If I knew that was going to be sentenced to her singing I wouldn't have!" The inmate shouted back.

The cop turned back to Angela about to point his finger at her when she belted out, "I'm a little tea cup short and…"

"Okay!" The cop shouted. "ONE phone call."

He opened the door and Angela followed his right on his heels to the phone. The cop who had arrested her looked up and then back down as he swallowed another aspirin.

Angela took the phone from the cop and frantically called as she looked at the clock. More time had passed than she thought and she could think of nothing but Sweets.

"Caroline Julian?" Angela asked heaving a huge sigh that she answered. "Yeah it's Angela Montenagro. I'm in jail and Sweets needs your help, right away."

* * *

Booth looked at his phone ringing and put down his fork in the empty food container. Brennan looked up with curiosity as to who was calling.

"Booth." He said answering his phone.

"Agent Seeley Booth." Caroline Julian said in a not so pleased tone. "Tell me Cherie, do you and or Dr. Jack Hodgins know there whereabouts of Angela Montenagro or Dr. Lance Sweets?"

Booth could tell by the way she was asking that it was less of a question and more of a condemning statement. Caroline could make you feel like an errant child when she wanted to, and right now he could tell she wanted to.

"I, uh, have been on a case." Booth squeaked out.

"Angela is being released from the Dayton County police department after a few choice words I offered to the officer in charge. Dr. Lance Sweets, from what a _very _frantic Angela told me is currently trapped under a pile of snow at your murder suspect's house. Now I'm not going to suggest to tell you how to do your job agent but I would highly suggest that you…"

"I'm on it." Booth said grasping the gravity of the situation. "One thing." Booth began. "Where are they at?"

"I'll text you the address of the Dayton County police station, but I have no idea where your suspect's house is." Caroline said.

"Okay, I'll call Angela on her cell." Booth said hanging up.

"What's going on?" Brennan asked Booth as a sinking feeling set in.

"I don't know, Angela and Sweets went to do, something, I don't know. Angela is in jail and Sweets is in trouble." Booth gave her the run down as quickly as he could.

He called Angela's cell but it went straight to voicemail.

"Well are they okay?" Brennan asked now concerned.

"I don't know Bones, I'm working on it." Booth said now trying Sweets cell which rang repeatedly.

Booth called Caroline back.

"Bad news Cherie." Caroline answered. "Angela left the police station and her cell phone is dead."

"What?" Booth asked running his hand thru his hair.

"Don't worry I've chewed so much ass I've got polyester in my teeth. They are out looking for Angela now. They wouldn't listen to her about Sweets being trapped so she stomped out on her own. They **will **be out to find her but right now you'd better get on finding out where Sweets is. Chances are that's where Angela is heading back to."

"Thanks." Booth said hanging up.

"Booth, what's going on?" Brennan asked and Booth brought her up to speed.

"How do we find Sweets?" She asked at the conclusion of the summary.

"I've got an idea." Booth said as they left the room and he called Hodgins.

* * *

"Please!" Angela shouted her plea to a scared store owner only gazed at her from behind his closed sign.

Angela was cold but she knew she had a relief from the cold that Sweets hadn't been granted. She had pleaded with half a dozen people at first for a ride, then just for use of their phone as hers lay dead in her pocket.

Angela looked to the sky as a light snow began to call. She knew she had to get back to the cabin, somehow, she wasn't going to give up on Sweets now.

* * *

"Walking in a winter wonderland…" Sweets mumbled to himself. He giggled to himself. He couldn't walk any place thought it was winter but he wasn't so sure of the wonderland.

"Warm wonderland." Sweets mumbled as his thoughts drifted. He was filled with a sensation of warmth, beaches, and after a moment, he was sure he saw the sun.

Sweets struggled to get his hand on his shirt and undid the top button. He was filled with an overwhelming desire to take off his clothes. Sweets had no connection to the fact he was entering a serious stage of hypothermia where a person is inundated with a false sense of warmth. While Sweets would not see his precarious situation as lucky, he was fortunate to be buried under a pile, unable to fulfil his desire to remove those clothes.

After a few moments of struggling he stopped. Sweets head was swimming once he stopped and he found himself filled with a sense of anger. He went to move his right arm that was feeling numb but it only felt wet. Angered by the sense of being hot and confused he yanked his right arm as hard as he could. He was provided with an immediate painful sensation and barely pieced together that his arm had been cut by a piece of metal and when he pulled it, was cut much deeper. Sweets moved his arm and saw a red smear across the floor. He couldn't see the cut thru his dark wool coat or his dark jacket under it and was confused and he continued to rub his arm on the ground.

"Did you cut your arm?" He asked the girl lying next to him. Naturally she was quiet.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" Sweets said louder. "Did you cut your arm?" He said again but even he could tell his speech was starting to slur.

"Fine, don't answer." Sweets grunted still looking at the smears his arm was making as he moved it along the ground.

"They're not going to make it in time." A girl voice said and Sweets looked back to the girl.

"Yes they will, they're very smart."

"But they don't care. Not like your parents did." The girl told him.

"They, they do." Sweets said not so sure this time when he said it.

"It's getting to be too late."

"Not, it's not. I can do this." Sweets said struggling to push himself up on the palms of his hands. His right arm gave way first under pressure of the deep cut. The motion knocked loose a pile of snow which fell on him.

Sweets sighed a deep breath of defeat. With his left hand he pushed the snow off his head though it had let in a layer of coldness that overall worsened his critical situation. He looked at the loose snow and without a mental capacity much more than intuition pushed the loose powder with his numb left hand onto his right arm. His fingers would not move independently but he could move his left arm as a whole. Soon he had pushed the snow up onto his cut arm. Sweets watched as each layer of snow he added magically turned to red. He repeated the process until the snow was all on his arm. He felt the bleeding slow due to the cold.

"That was a good idea." The girl said.

"See, I can do this." Sweets said feeling extremely exhausted now. His heart had momentarily picked up speed but now it was plummeting.

"You only bought yourself minutes." She said again.

"They'll come."

"They'll come too late." She echoed.

"How do you know that?" He asked, his eyes getting heavy.

"Because you know that I'm you telling yourself these things."

Sweets closed his eyes knowing that she, or rather he was right.

* * *

"Hodgins are you there?" Booth asked as his image appeared over webcam in the conference room.

"Yeah, I'm here Booth, I'm just, I mean, Ange…"

"We're looking for her Dr. Hodgins, this is how we are going to find her." Brennan reassured the obviously distraught Hodgins.

"Okay, so what am I looking for?" Hodgins asked.

"I'm trying to figure out what Angela and Sweets were working on." Booth said as he flipped thru the pages that were on the table. Brennan followed suit and flipped thru them as well.

"I'm seeing a lot of financials." Hodgins said flipping thru the images Angela had on the screen. Booth shook his head as though remembering something about that.

"They were talking about money." Booth said.

"Well what did they say?" Brennan asked surprised he knew this.

"I don't know, I didn't…" Booth stopped because he didn't finish his sentence with _believe them._

"It looks like they were digging into the financials of a Theodore Edwards." Hodgins said.

"Yes!" Booth said remembering. "He was the father of uh, Molly Edwards. She didn't fit the profile."

"Yeah it looks like they were onto something here. There's quite a bit of suspicious activity here." Hodgins said flipping thru the digital documents.

"Sweets found a cabin, in the mountains." Brennan said picking up a bill of sale.

"That's where they went." Hodgins said and they all stopped.

"Let's go." Booth said taking the address with him.

* * *

Angela was glad she wore pants but as the snow fall picked up she wished they were thicker. She knew she wasn't going to make it back to the car as it was. She was filled with a deep sadness that she had failed Sweets. She knew how she felt she could barely stand the cold and Sweets had been exposed to the cold longer.

She head a familiar sound and spun around to see a police car pull up behind her. As the officer approached her nearly frozen eyelids she was preparing to deck the cop.

"Mrs. Montenegro?" He said approaching with a large warm blanket. "With deep apologies from the police station I am coming to you."

Angela paused from punching the public servant square in the jaw.

"Please, get in the car, let's get to your friend."

Angela decided not to punch him and instead made her way to the police car.

Once inside she turned the heat to full blast with little care if the officer was uncomfortable in the sauna. He said nothing.

"Your friends are on their way but I think it's best that we try and get there." The officer said. Angela nodded as she looked out the window, the light was about to take its leave with only a slight glimmer left.

"Please hurry officer. I promised my friend I would be back."

"Yes mam, I mean, yes miss."

* * *

"She said she would come." Sweets said and wondered what the clattering sound was. "She promised she would come back." Sweets mumbled in words that only he could sort of comprehend. He waited for the girl to argue with him but she was quiet. Everything around him was quiet.

Sweets distantly recalled the time he was held hostage in that bank robbery. Being held captive was much better than being alone here. This was a personal hell he could hardly stand. The line between real and surreal was a line too thin. The cold was a pain so deeply penetrating there was no escape. Being shot was a singular pain that he could identify, like he had that day at the bank. Now though, the pain was everywhere and nowhere. The pain became numb but the numb was a pain of its own. It was as though there were thousands of tiny pins pricking at him but he had no ability to stop them, hardly a mind to define them.

"I don't think she's coming." Sweets said when he realized the clattering sound was coming from him shivering. The sound quieted after he spoke and everything seemed to slow down and the pounding in his chest began to slow. Everything started to slow down and fade to black.

* * *

"Are we getting close?" Booth asked as Brennan monitored the digital map.

"What's going on?" Hodgins asked on the speaker phone. They had promised to keep him up to speed on Angela and this was the only way to appease him.

"We appear to be about twenty minutes away." Brennan announced.

"Do we know what condition either of them might be in?" Cam asked having stood next to Hodgins. She was always feeling the need to be prepared.

"The police called Caroline Julian about twenty minutes ago." Brennan announced. "They picked up Angela and they were heading to the cabin. We are almost there as well though we have not been able to reach Angela or the officer."

"The reception up there is going to be pretty bad. They may have gotten back to the cabin." Hodgins proposed.

"I would say Angela is probably cold and irritated but is okay or the officer would have taken her to the hospital and we would have heard about it." Cam guessed. "But if Dr. Sweets has been trapped at that cabin for what I'm guessing to be several hours then…"

"Let's not guess the worst." Booth said trying to see past the snow that was hitting the windshield amidst the last few gasps the setting sun was taking.

Brennan wanted to tell Booth that was not a rational way to be but she could see the concern that he had and instead was quiet.

"Oh boy." Booth said causing Brennan to look up.

"What?" Hodgins asked.

"We just passed Sweets car."


	6. Chapter 6

6.

ASC: Could that be another hint to another story up there in the last chapter? Maybe… Or maybe I should just write one where they all go for a beer and just get drunk! ;0

* * *

"This way." Angela said running from the cop's car towards the side of the cabin. The officer picked up a high beam flash light as he knew the sunlight was soon a thing of the past.

He followed Angela's footprints and found her clawing snow away that had built up around the previous opening she had made. He watched for a second as she dug in deep desperation and his heart immediately went out to her as he saw how wrong he had been. This was no cop ambush, she was desperately concerned for her friend.

He walked to a tree and positioned the flashlight to shine on Angela. She looked over her shoulder to see the cop come up and began to dig twice as fast as she had been.

Soon they had cleared a larger area and with the help of a crowbar the cop had in his truck they peeled back a larger section of the metal.

"Sweets!" Angela called into the darkened area. She backed up to let some light in at first saw something she didn't think was right, but then realized it was something she just didn't _want _ to see – a pile of reddened snow.

* * *

"Hodgins?" Brennan asked as the line went dead.

"We must be close if we lost reception." Booth said growing quieter and going into his "Booth" mode.

"Is that a light up there?" Brennan asked.

* * *

"Base Over." The officer repeated to no response.

"I'm going in there." Angela said though the officer tried to stop her.

"No, it's dangerous, it could collapse."

Angela had forgot about the cut on her arm. She looked at the red on from Sweets arm. "I promised." She said and had a fear she was going in only to find three bodies, not two bodies and a friend.

The cop had no response at first when he heard her recall her promise.

"If it starts to fall, grab my hand, I'll pull you back." He said as she nodded in agreement.

Angela wedged her way in the small space. She felt the rough edges of the metal scathe along her skin in what might have been more minor cuts but she was beyond that concern as she entered the frigid room.

There wasn't enough room for her to stand or to sit even but she crawled forward, pulling herself on her elbows so her face was so next to Sweets. He was facing away and she held her breath as she touched his curly locks. While cold, there was still warmth to him. Angela nearly jumped out of her skin when Sweets turned his head to face hers.

"Sweets!" She said with a smile that faltered as she looked at his bright red frostbit cheek and purple lips.

"Mom?" Sweets asked.

"No sweetie, it's me, Angela."

"Oh, I thought you were dead." Sweets said trying to remember if Angela was his mom or the dead girl. Angela took it to mean that she, Angela had died instead of coming back.

"No, I'm alive sweetie, I'm here, I'm back and I'm going to get you out, okay?" She looked around at the pile and wondered how that was going to be possible.

"It's okay, it's warm here. I think I'll just stay." Sweets muttered in words that Angela barely understood.

Angela became quickly concerned. "No, Sweets, you're going with me okay?" She put her hand over his but he didn't respond to it's warmth. Angela the other hand tried not to pull her hand away from Sweets frigid palm.

"Don't tell my mom I died alone." Sweets whispered and Angela became significantly alarmed.

"NO! No, no, no, Sweets, I'm here, you're not alone and you're not going anywhere." Angela felt tears form at the corner of her eyes. She felt like if one dropped it would freeze before it could slide off her cheek. "Don't Sweets, please just, I can figure this out okay, just wait, I know you waited, but please, just a moment more."

"Hey!" A voice shouted and Angela could hear voices being exchanged.

"Angela come out!" Booth called. Angela put both her hands over Sweets and blew a warm breath on them.

"No! I'm staying here. Just get him out!" She shouted back.

Booth didn't like this idea but he knew Angela was just as stubborn as the rest of them were. Brennan turned to run back to the car to go for more help but Booth reminded her there was no time.

Brennan ran into the cabin and turned on every light she could find which wasn't many in the sparse dwelling. It gave them some illumination as the officer and Booth began to peel back as much of the fallen roof and sides as fast as they could. They ignored the cold and the cuts to their hand as Angela continued to reassure to Sweets.

"Hear that Sweetie?" She asked between a choked back tear and puffs of hot air on Sweets hand. "They're working, they're coming."

Booth pushed harder with the officer right by his side. Breann found the door on the other side and pushed but it was to no avail. She put her ear to the door to hear what Angela was saying and it broke her heart to hear what she feared were only empty promises.

"You're too young Sweetie. There's you know, losing your fast metabolism with age. Oh, Sweets, remember the pie, you owe me pie and coffee. Sweets?" Angela asked. "Sweets?" She asked again with desperation.

Hands flew and hearts pounded as Booth and the officer pulled back a layer of metal and dropped in the ceiling. There was little room as he dropped down inches from Sweets who was still buried. Booth turned to see the light coming around the door to the cabin. He moved a piece of wood only to hear Angela gasp. He didn't wait and digging deep within himself he pushed a partial beam far enough that the door Brennan leaned against came open. She fell forward to see the dead girl who had been near Sweets.

Brennan collected herself as pulled Angela towards her. Angela held Sweets hand as Brennan saw the red covered snow. She removed the metal piece that had cut into Sweets arm carefully as she took his arm with care and Angela the other and tried to pull.

"He's caught on something." Brennan declared.

Booth looked back and saw something had fallen directly on Sweets leg. The cop dropped nearby and together they lifted shoved snow off a broken shelf over Sweets legs. They balanced the shelf, the snow and the roof pieces on their backs and pushed up with all their might as Angela and Brenan pulled Sweets out from the room into the cabin door.

Once Sweets was free Booth and the cop lunged forward as the rest of the room collapsed in a spectacular calamity. Booth smiled as they realized they had made it. He looked to Brennan who was staring at Angela, who was holding Sweets shoulders in her arms rocking slightly with tears rushing down her face. The tear drops bounced off Sweets blue lips and they all shared the same thought of being too late.


	7. Chapter 7

7.

ASC: Hope still reading? Enjoying? Keep going?

* * *

"Listen people here is what I need." Cam barked as she and Hodgins gathered the waiting staff after they entered the nearest hospital to the group's location. They had little to go on besides the fact that Sweets was most likely suffering from some form of hypothermia and that time was going to be limited to help.

The staff was informed of the agent's impending arrival and to listen to Cam's instructions on Sweets condition but she arrived knowing very little herself. She continued to list off every medical supply possibly needed to address various levels of hypothermia.

"I'm Dr. Vince Clark." The middle aged man said approaching Cam. "What can you tell me about this agent's condition?"

"I was hoping to know more by the time I got here." Cam admitted. "They are out of phone range. I am largely assuming at this point that Dr. Sweets is still alive."

"Well we never assume anyone is dead in cases of hypothermia until they are, for lack of a more tactful phrase 'warm and dead'. Many cases have shown inaccurate vitals being taken due to low body temperatures."

"Yes, I understand." Cam said not needing a refresher course.

"Dr. Soroyan I am here to assist in any way. I'll do whatever you ask…"

"No Dr. Clark, I'd like to be assisting you." Cam said and the doctor was taken back a bit. When he heard that the important FBI man was on his way in and the prestigious Dr. Soroyan was coming he had prepared for her to take the lead.

"I care very much for Dr. Sweets." Cam said feeling her hands shake a little, her stomach turn. "He's a dear friend. I would like to be involved and kept abreast of the situation, but I'm afraid my hands will not be steady enough to help."

"Yes of course." Dr. Clark said seeing the obvious concern in her eyes. "I look forward to working with you and hopefully we will have a favorable outcome."

Cam nodded and offered a small smile.

"Now, let's double check that we have everything." He said and she was glad she had something to do to keep her mind busy.

* * *

"Is he breathing?" Booth asked having spied Sweets blue tinted lips.

"I can't tell." Angela said trying to take a pulse.

"It may be difficult to tell in a person suffering from hypothermia." Brennan explained. "We need to get Dr. Sweets out of the cold immediately."

Booth stood up to quickly get on the move and Brennan stopped him.

"We need to move him carefully. Too abrupt or rough movements can cause ventricular fibrillation." She warned. Booth looked at her that he didn't know what that meant. "Like a heart attack."

"So what do we do?" Angela asked trying to composure herself as she held onto Sweets.

"We need to get that wet coat off Dr. Sweets." Brennan instructed as she walked away from them.

Angela & Booth leaned Sweets forward and pulled the jacket and dress jacket off.

"Oh God." Angela said at the sight of Sweets white button down drenched in dark red blood.

"Here, tie it with this." Brennan said handing a ripped section of the sheet she took off the small cot around it and handed it to Booth.

"I think the rest is pretty dry, just the coat was mostly wet." Booth said.

"Let's wrap him in this." Brennan said laying down the blanket on the ground.

Angela and Booth quickly but carefully laid Sweets on it as Brennan pulled it around Sweets.

"We need to go." She said and they thought it strange she said it.

"What's wrong?" Angela asked knowing something was up.

"I noticed Dr. Sweets is not shivering." She explained after she peeled back a closed eyelid of his.

"He was before." Angela said.

"Yes, I suspected that." She said allowing his eyelid to shut. "A patient who has stopped shivering and has dilated pupils is…."

"Not good." Booth finished for her. "Let's go." He added then took Sweets under the arms while Angela took his feet.

Soon Sweets was in the back seat of Booth's SUV. The cop who had been standing near helplessly watching said he would escort them down the mountain and call for help as soon as they reached the reception.

* * *

"They're fifteen minutes away!" Hodgins informed Cam and Dr. Clark excitedly as he put away his phone.

"How is Dr. Sweets condition?" Cam asked.

"Dr. Brennan didn't say a lot. She said to tell you that she would estimate that Sweets is in a moderate to severe stage of hypothermia." Hodgins said and wondered what that exactly meant.

"I'll get things ready." Dr. Clark said.

"What does that mean?" Hodgins asked.

"It's not bad news, but it's not good news." She explained in the shortened version.

Soon the sound of the cop's siren could be heard. The waiting team was near the door as Booth's SUV pulled to the emergency entrance.

Cam and Dr. Clark were by the vehicle before the doors could even open. Dr. Clark opened the rear passenger door to see Sweets lying across the back seat, Angela's arms wrapped around his chest as though she were trying to force warmth into him. Brennan sat on the opposite side trying to mask the concerned look she had.

"Miss?" Dr. Clark said to Angela holding out his arms. "Please let me help." He said tenderly trying to take Sweets from her. It broke her from her train of thought and seeing the doctor's kind face she slowly loosened her grasp on Sweets enough for the doctor and medical team to pull him out.

Hodgins came and helped Angela out who immediately started to cry in his arms.

"I just didn't want to let him go." Angela said and they knew she meant more than that moment there.

"I know, it's okay." Hodgins said holding her tight. "Hey what's this?" He said noticing the cut on her arm.

"Let's get that looked at." Brennan said as they stepped into the hospital.

They looked up to see Sweets being taken away and felt their hearts sink.

* * *

"Core temp 85.5"

"Heart rate is dropping."

"Is the blood re-warmer ready?"

"In one minute."

"IV in, warm fluid is now circulating."

Booth listened to the room of voices volley back and forth from outside the room. The others waited in the waiting room but Booth was too antsy. Cam stepped out of the room and was surprised to see him standing there at first, but after a moment she realized she would have been disappointed if he hadn't been. Sweets was one of his people and he was hurt. Of course Booth was near.

"How is he?" Booth asked in a tone so quiet Cam was sure she never heard that timbre before.

Cam sighed. "Not good. Not dead." She said but had to pause to collect herself from showing the emotion she was feeling.

"I wanted to ask before you told them. Angela is taking this pretty hard." Booth explained.

"I think we all are aren't we?" Cam said as a tear glistened in the corner of her eye. "He's so young Seeley."

Booth took a step forward and found little reluctance to Cam accepting a hug. She stayed for a second as she collected her couple of tears, more than she would normally allow.

"Can we do anything?" Booth asked. He was still solid, still holding it together though his concern his showing it was not.

"We wait." Cam said wiping away the last small tear as Brennan and Hodgins approached.

"Ange is getting a stitch in her arm for her cut." Hodgins explained. "She only went with the promise I'd run to get her if anything came up."

"I think right now we'll be okay. We just have to wait." Cam explained. "They are running rewarming fluids thru Dr. Sweets to raise his core temperature. Unfortunately in this case Dr. Sweets low body fat is working against him. If his temperature doesn't begin to rise quickly they will try a more aggressive method which is to infuse warming fluids into the chest and abdomen or thru the stomach and bladder."

"Hope it's empty." Hodgins tried to joke to lighten the mood.

"I don't think he ate all day." Booth said. "He was so busy, working." Booth's tone was some place farther away. He had thought of his rant that Sweets as off playing while he was eating his own dinner with Brennan. He realized he was wrong on several things about Sweets today.

"Can we see him?" Brennan asked.

"Thru the door." Cam said stepping back. "They won't move him to a room until they've stabilized him."

Brennan peeked thru the window on the door. She could hardly see Sweets the warming blanket and monitors surrounding him. She looked back at Booth who stepped away, he didn't want to see in, neither did Hodgins. They didn't want to see Sweets, not like that.

"I'm guessing it isn't good news." Caroline Julian said approaching them.

The lack of response said a lot to her.

"Well I've got something to take your minds off Dr. Sweets for a moment."

"What's that?" Hodgins asked her.

"Oh a little murder we were working to solve."

"I thought we found him." Angela said rejoining the group.

"Well his house sure, but it was pretty empty." Caroline answered.

"Except for the bodies." Angela said. "Oh there was a laptop there too, we need to…"

"Gone." Caroline said interrupting her.

"What?" Booth asked.

"While all this was going on and you all left in a hurry I sent a team up there. The place was empty. Nada."

"I saw the bodies." Angela said in a voice that insisted she wasn't crazy.

"I did too, what are you saying Caroline?" Brennan asked.

"I'm not saying you two are crazy, I'm saying your murderer most likely came in when you left and took them. And that laptop. The place is clean, nothing."

Booth rubbed his eyes. He knew it was a mistake on his part, they were so focused on Sweets he hadn't thought they had been watched. He wished now he would have had the cop stay, but then again maybe Edwards would have just killed the cop.

"Any idea where we might find him?" Caroline asked trying to get their attention. "Look I care about Sweets too, but I'd also like to make sure we don't end up with any more murdered girls."

"He's taking the bodies to the parents." Booth said.

The others considered the possibility. "He did leave Harding and Andrews for the fathers to find." Brennan considered.

"But why wasn't Melissa Phillips left, why was she being 'stored' at the cabin?" Cam asked.

"I'll bet because the dad wasn't home. He's often out traveling. He killed Melissa Phillips and when the dad was traveling he couldn't leave her so he had to store her." Booth said.

"Why does this Edwards guy care, what's the motive?" Caroline asked.

"You'll have to ask Sweets." Booth said.

"If he wakes up." Hodgins said crossing his arms.

"_When _he wakes up." Booth corrected.

Hodgins nodded, he was just upset about the whole thing.

"So if he can't find Melissa Phillips father, we know Liz Sanders was there too. Where does her father work?" Brennan asked.

"We might be able to catch this guy in the act of leaving her." Cam said realizing the possibility.

"He'll want her to defrost." Hodgins said finding it a difficult comment to phrase.

"We just might have time." Cam said looking at her watch.

"Angela, can you get us an address?" Booth asked turning to where she was a moment ago. She had been absent from the whole conversation, and now they noticed, the room all together. They looked and she was in the room where Sweets was, standing near the bed, looking at him.

"I can look that up." Hodgins suggested, knowing Angela was where she needed to be at the moment.

Booth & Brennan exchanged looks in their concern for Angela.

"I'll stay here with Angela and Sweets." Cam offered.

"Got it." Hodgins said jumping up from the laptop he had with him.

"I suggest you two and Dr. Hodgins get to that scene as soon as possible, after you call back up of course." Caroline said.

They nodded as though mom had just issued her marching order.

"I'll be at the office ready to issue whatever warrant you need." She called after them.

Once they were gone Caroline walked over to the doors and looked in.

"I thought you were going to the office." Cam asked confused.

"I will, in a minute." Caroline said in a softer voice as she looked in.


	8. Chapter 8

8.

Booth wasn't thrilled with the idea of bringing Hodgins along but it helped keep him focused on the case. He had to admit at the moment he was having a hard time remembering all the facts on the case, something that wasn't hard for the squints he noticed.

Hodgins picked up on the fact it was best to stay quiet at the moment.

"When we get there you two stay in the car." Booth instructed. Brennan wanted to argue but was almost too exhausted to explore an argument.

Hodgins phone buzzed. Brennan and Booth looked back to see what news it might be as Hodgins read the text. The lack of a favorable expression on Hodgins' face suggested it was not news they wanted to hear.

"Sweets body temp is only up to 87. They are going to try and infuse the warming fluid thru his chest." Hodgins said in a somber tone.

Booth cleared his throat. "We're here."

They pulled a distance away where Booth rendezvoused with the small team that had assembled waiting for his orders.

"Sir it's pretty late in the evening, are you sure that he will be here?" One waiting agent asked.

"He'll be here. The investment firm opens in the morning but he knows he's being watched. He just doesn't know we're on to him." Booth explained. "Do a sweep of the area, see if you see any activity."

Booth went to don his bullet proof vest while the agents did a search of the area. One of the agents returned.

"No signs outside but it does appear that the door has been jimmied." The agent reported.

Booth didn't like the sound of that. Before the bodies had been displayed outside the buildings, why the change now.

"Any sign of the suspect?" Booth asked.

"Nothing so far sir."

"Get everyone together, we're going in." Booth said. He looked back at Brennan for a moment who smiled a sort of "good luck" grin as she watched him leave.

"Hodgins?" Brennan asked. "There was more to that message you didn't want to tell Booth wasn't there."

Hodgins cleared his throat but decided not to lie. "I didn't want to take his mind off the killer. Cam says if this doesn't work, and in the next hour then…"

"I see." Brennan said in a near whisper.

* * *

"All clear sir." An agent said as they quietly approached Mr. Sanders office.

Booth nodded and an agent opened the door. The office was dark, no suspect in sight. Booth noticed the office chair was facing away from them. As he approached he knew what he was going to find, he just didn't know the specifics until he approached it.

Another agent turned on the light to reveal Liz Sanders body in the chair. Her hands were tied with twine forcing her middle fingers to give the bird, presumably to her father. Her face with disfigured as he mouth was cut with a knife, leaving a creepy clown like smile on her face.

Booth nodded for the agents to take it from there.

"Do we call the Jeffersonian team?" An agent asked Booth.

"No. There's no bones here for them to work with, we know the victim." He answered solemnly. "Document it all thoroughly and send them copies. Actually, I'm going to send Dr. Hodgins up here. He might catch something."

He knew there was little the team could gain by taking the remains, but he thought Hodgins might dig out something they missed. Otherwise he wasn't going to pull them away from being where they really wanted to be, despite there was so little they could do there.

Booth explained what they had found in the office to Brennan & Hodgins.

"That was the right decision." Brennan said. "As long as we get copies of what they've found."

"I'll head up there." Hodgins said. "I'll you if I find something."

"What should we do now?" Brennan asked, growing tired as the 9 p.m. hour was setting in.

"Let's go and see how that procedure went for Sweets." Booth said getting in the car. Brennan struggled with the notion of telling Booth what additional information that Hodgins had told her. She decided to wait and see what might have changed once they got to the hospital. As they drove she found herself stressed over the multiple possibilities.

* * *

"Where is he?" Brennan asked as they stared in the empty room.

The many options ran thru Booth's mind, some of which were impossible, others that were undesirable.

"Guys." Cam said in a low tone. The duo turned to see her approaching. Her lack of despondency was encouraging.

"He's been moved to a room." Cam said holding her hands tightly together. It was though it was an extension of her holding herself together. "He's improving, but he's not out of the woods yet." Her tone was encouraging yet cautious.

Brennan and Booth nodded and followed Cam to a room nearby.

"What is his condition?" Breanna asked feeling the clinical side take over.

"It's still serious, but it's not critical anymore." Cam explained.

"But not stable." Booth clarified.

"One step at a time Seeley. I had my doubts an hour ago that Sweets was still going to be with us." Cam explained as they reached the room. Booth was surprised to learn that bit of information. He looked to Brennan who looked away.

They got to the room where Angela was sitting on one side of the bed and it was apparent that Cam had been sitting in the chair next to her since they had got to this room.

"I'm going to check something with the doctor." Cam said looking at Sweets for a moment before she left. Booth wondered what she saw.

Brennan sat down next to Angela who still looked weary.

"How is your arm?" Brennan asked Angela. She turned to look at it like she forgot it was there.

"It's fine." Angela answered in a short tone.

"Have you eaten anything?" Brennan asked.

"Thanks Sweetie, but I'm really not hungry." Angela said looking back at Sweets. She was silent for a moment before she continued. "I didn't think it was so bad, I mean, I should have known, I should have tried harder to get back."

"Angela, it's not your fault." Brennan said taking her hand. Angela felt tears prick at her eyes again though she was tired of crying. Booth wondered if the whole thing could have been avoided if he had listened, he would have kept them from going. The "what if's" were endless.

Dr. Clark and Cam came in but were quiet as though they did not want to alert anyone. They checked some vitals and the doctor looked at Sweets hands for a moment, most notably his right one. He nodded to Cam and left.

"Do we want to know what that was about?" Booth asked not wanting to be kept out of the dark.

Cam held a guilty expression like she didn't want to jump to anything yet.

"Cam, tell us." Angela petitioned. "Not knowing is the worst."

"I was concerned that Dr. Sweets was not getting enough fluid. So much is going into warm his body that I'm afraid he's not getting enough nourishment." Cam explained.

"What can they do for that?" Brennan asked.

"Right now the focus will remain on raising Dr. Sweets body temperature. I was perhaps jumping the gun, thinking too far ahead. I was also concerned that he has, or will continue to develop frostbite on his hands."

Their eyes immediately went to Sweets hands but they were under the warming blanket. Booth had noticed when they were examining them that they were discolored.

"What's wrong with his cheek?" Booth asked instead, motioning to Sweets while he stood at a distance near the door.

"Again an incident of frostbite. His cheek was resting on the ground whereas his chest was protected thru the clothing so it wasn't a direct contact." Cam explained. "His feet were also shielded by having shoes on though the dress shoes are not a great insulator. I suspecting he may develop a minor case of frostbite on his feet but the right arm, which he covered in snow to slow the bleeding, which was good so that he didn't bleed out, but it did also expose it to a great deal of ice leading to second degree frostbite."

"What does that all mean?" Angela asked. "He won't walk or use his hands again?"

"No no!" Cam interjected. "Initially Dr. Sweets will have temporary issues with mobility but at this stage he should regain use of his extremeties within a month's time. There was no damage to the deep tissue. He may have a permanent sensitivity to hot and cold in the future." Cam wanted to add a disclaimer of "if he lives thru this" but she refrained. They all looked at her expecting more.

"If he lives thru this, he will recover." She clarified. "His body temperature has to rise, slowly and steadily without risk of cardiac arrest. We wait."


	9. Chapter 9

9.

The beeping made Booth sit up too quickly causing a crick in his neck. With great irritation he rubbed it, urging the pain to subside. The chair in the corner of the room hadn't proved to be a great deal of comfort while he snoozed.

He worked for a moment to orient his eyes to see Angela leaning against Brennan, both sound asleep. Cam wasn't in the room. He heard beeping again and realized that was what woke him.

He got up and walked closer to the Sweets who still sat motionless on the bed. He had more color to him now over the pale image that lay there when they arrived. The shades of blue had faded though it wasn't quite yet normal Sweets. The beeping began again, quicker this time and Booth became alarmed when he recalled Cam's warning about cardiac arrest. He immediately left for the hallway where he saw Cam talking to Dr. Clark in the distance. Cam saw him and the expression he held and both quickly returned to the room.

The examined the beeping machines as the commotion now woke Breanna and Angela.

"What, what is it?" Angela asked apprehensive.

Dr. Clark took a few more vitals before offering her a smile.

"His body temperature has reached an acceptable level." He informed her. "We are holding at 93." He added to Cam as she nodded along. "Blood pressure is still low, but acceptable."

"93?" Booth asked interrupting them. "Isn't normal body temperature like 98?"

"Yes and while anything below 95 is still considered hypothermia it's a considerable adjustment." Dr. Clark added.

"So is he out of the woods?" Booth asked trying not to anticipate too much.

"Let's say he's finding his way there." Cam cautioned, but held a small smile.

"When will he wake up?" Brennan asked as the doctor was leaving.

"When he's ready." The doctor answered ambiguously. They looked to Cam again.

"Dr. Sweets has been thru quite a bit, he's doing well, I suspect he will come around when he's rested up." She suggested. "Now that he's stable, I would suppose some of us could go home. I can stay here, not having small children and all."

"Well Max is with Christine and Michael Vincent. I think we could stay a little longer." Brennan suggested knowing Angela wasn't quite ready to leave, despite knowing Sweets had improved. She suspected Angela would only be appeased when Sweets sat up and talked or argued with her.

"Hey! Here you guys are." Hodgins said walking in the room with a sense of excitement. "Just ran into the doc and he said Sweets was gonna make it." He looked back over to their most silent team member, quietly breathing shallow.

"Most likely." Cam said still a bit cautious.

"Well while it looks like you've all been napping I've been at the crime scene." Hodgins began. They could tell he found something.

"I found a few particulates and took them back to the lab to analyze them. I did find traces of rope. It would appear she was strangled as the others were since it was embedded pretty deeply. It does match the rope found from the school and on the previous cases." Hodgins explained.

"Well I think we know the cases were connected Hodgins." Booth stated.

"Yes, well, I'm also found some granules of rock. They are pretty old, commonly used in building structures at the turn of the century. They were embedded in the carpet, probably dug in since he was carrying the body there." They didn't seem super impressed with his finds. "Well it's something since it's doubtful that the suspect is going to return to his cabin with the location known and since you guys trashed it on the last trip."

"Are there any more girls that might become victims?" Brennan asked.

"It seemed as though those girls were the worst offenders at the school. Their actions really set them above the others." Booth said hoping that meant there weren't more.

"If we don't catch him dropping off this last body, then we might never catch him." Angela realized. "If he has no more potential victims, he's just going to get away with this."

Based on the fact that his daughter Molly Edwards and his wife had vanished without a trace they knew it was possible for him to do the same.

"So the question is where is he now and what's he going to do with the last body?" Cam rationalized.

"Melissa Phillips?" Brennan asked as though for clarification. "She was the first victim but the only one body to not yet be recovered correct?"

"Yeah we suspect since her father has been away on vacation he's been, uh, saving it." Booth explained.

"Is her father back in town?" Angela asked.

"No, I checked and he's still gone." Booth explained.

"But if she's thawed out," Angela began but was grossed out by the thought, "then he's got to do something with her, and soon."

"What about the last victim, why was she displayed in the way she was? The other bodies were completely damaged." Cam mused.

"That's a question for Sweets." Booth advised.

"May he knew we were onto him and he was getting back at us." Hodgins suggested but it didn't feel right.

"It's not us." A voice said softly. The looked at each other and then down to Sweets.

"Sweets?" Booth asked rushing closely. "Was that you?"

Sweets eyes were still closed but a small smile crept onto his face. Angela grabbed his face and kissed his red cheek. Sweets smiled a sad sort of smile at that. He knew it was Angela by the smell of her perfume. He could tell it was a concerned kiss and wondered what had all happened that she would feel that way.

"Sweets, how are you feeling?" Brennan asked.

Sweets tried to clear his throat but it was extremely dry.

"Hang on Dr. Sweets, I'll get you something." Cam said grabbing some water. Booth backed up to give her room.

Sweets tried to inch his eyes open, he had a sense they were all standing close by. Cam pushed his head forward and he tried to grab at the cup.

"Let me help Sweets." Cam suggested in a low and patient voice. She didn't want to alarm Sweets about his hands just yet. She saw his look of concern that she knew he was too smart to miss but he accepted the drink and the help. "We'll get you some more, I'll get the doctor…"

"It's not us." Sweets said again and they wondered what he was talking about. "You said the suspect, he was getting back at us." Sweets said stopping for a few breaths as he said it.

Hodgins began , "how did you…"

"I've been listening for a while." Sweets said trying to move his fingers but noticed they weren't cooperating. He strained to try and open his eyes again.

"You could have told us you were awake." Angela said in a slightly scolding tone.

"I was, I thought I…" Sweets fumbled over his words, he didn't like to upset Angela.

"It's okay Sweets." Booth said reassuringly. "We're just glad you're awake."

"Yes! We _don't _want to upset Dr. Sweets." Cam warned reminding them with her tone that there was still a threat of cardiac arrest in his weakened state. They all took note.

"You should rest sweetie." Angela urged.

"Well, maybe we should hear Sweets out first." Hodgins urged since they had so little to go on. They wanted to object but they were desperate too.

"The suspect's focus is the parents, particularly the fathers." Sweets explained as his voice dried again and Cam assisted with more water. "Nothing about Liz Sanders was due to the fact we found him, his focus is still to punish the fathers."

"That makes sense." Brennan said, wondering if it was a logical pattern or Sweets soft science.

"So Melissa Phillips father isn't around but he's got to do something, game's almost over for him, he's not going to wait months until the guy comes back." Booth said.

"What about the school?" Sweets asked. "The rope came from there. Is there a father figure at the school who would be made to suffer?"

"Dean Anthony." Booth said realizing the target.

"That rock I found, it was most likely from the school." Hodgins said piecing it together.

"If the rope is from the bells…" Sweets began but couldn't finish.

"We got it." Booth said urging Sweets to lay back and rest. Booth looked at Brennan and Hodgins who nodded that they were going along.

"Great so you don't need me right?" Angela asked quickly and before they answered she added. "Okay great, thanks, bye."

They had to smile at her approach. She turned her attention away from them and back to Sweets. Cam joined in at looking at Sweets but the trio felt like he was left in good hands.

"This is Agent Booth." Booth said into his cell as they left the hospital. "I know it's midnight but we have a head on our suspect."


	10. Chapter 10

10.

In thirty minutes the a team was assembled under the darkness of the night. Booth was reinvigorated with the sense of purpose under the guise that Sweets was okay. They now had a "bad guy" to catch. And that bad guy in Sweets mind had something to do not only with hurting several young girls, but one of his people. Booth loaded his gun and donned his vest.

"Sir!" An agent said approaching him. "We have detected movement."

"In the dean's office?" Booth asked following him.

"No, near the entrance." The agent said and Booth wondered where the suspect might be heading.

"Head the teams near the bell tower!" Booth said recalling the church bell's thick rope.

* * *

Hodgins & Brennan waited impatiently as they watched Booth leave.

"Should we call Angela to check in?" Brennan asked.

"I tired but no answer. Those two are probably busy fussing over Sweets like a couple of ninnies." Hodgins teased.

* * *

Booth nodded as the agents silently lined the stairwell leading up to it. He led the team up the steps, past the levels of bells until they reached the top floor. Booth immediately spied a man by the window, lit by moonlight, handling what Booth assumed was the body by the window.

"Hold it right there." Booth said loudly making the man jump in surprise.

Booth walked towards the man whose shoulders relaxed. Booth noticed it was as though he were glad to be caught.

"Put that down." Booth said motioning to the crumbled body on the floor he suspected to be Melissa Phillips. In some ways he hoped so because it meant it wasn't another victim.

"Sure, I was planning to." The man said tossing the body out the window.

Booth refrained from shooting as the body was dead, and now hung from a noose outside the bell tower.

"Let's go." Booth said handcuffing the man.

Booth had hoped it would be a little more ceremonious, perhaps a fight to ensue so he could get a little relief in punching the man but instead he silently and cooperatively went along.

"Get him to interrogation." Booth instructed the junior agent.

"Now sir?"

"Yes now, I want to make sure we have this thing locked up tight." Booth said in an irritated tone. The junior agent nearly blushed at his mistake.

"Of course sir, justice is always served, right away, uh." The young man stumbled over his words and his embarrassment.

"Let's go kid." Booth said as they left.

* * *

"Why can't I move my fingers?" Sweets asked between Cam shoving sips of liquid down his throat. His eyes were now nearly completely open and he was more clearly accessing the situation.

Sweets body temperature had hit 96 so they took the warming blanket away as well as most of the other equipment. He now just had a thick down comforter on him as he sat propped up in bed.

"And why does my stomach hurt?" Sweets asked as the new pains became more apparent.

Angela pulled Sweets arm out softly from under the blanket so he could see his wrapped hands.

"Juice Dr. Sweets?" Cam asked switching from water.

"No, thank you." Sweets said looking at his hands.

"You have to drink something if you want to get better." She warned. "Sweet but non-caffeinated drinks are the best." Cam seemed to hitting the caffeine pretty hard. Sweets wondered what time it was.

"My hands, Dr. Soroyan...and…"

Cam realized Sweets would probably feel more at ease if he were brought up to speed so she sat the cup down.

"I didn't want to worry you Dr. Sweets. You're fine. Your fingers are still numb from the cold. You have second degree frostbite on your hands, your right arm is worse than the left. You have minor frostbite on your feet." She spoke slowly so he could absorb it all. "There's nothing to worry about, you should regain complete use of your hands and feet but it might take up to a month."

She could tell Sweets was weighing the disappointment of not using his hands or walking for a month but that was way better than not at all.

"You may have a permanent sensitivity to hot and cold." She warned. "But that's will vary and it might not happen at all, only time will tell."

"Any cheek, it feels funny." Sweets said.

"Yes, it's very red right now." Cam said knowing Sweets couldn't see it. It will fade much quicker. Your face was laying against the cold floor, however the body tries to keep circulation to the center of the body and the head more than the rest of the body so your body kept circulation there. I would suspect the numbness to fade and less problems with it."

Sweets nodded as he absorbed what she told him.

"Your stomach might be a bit sore. Sweets your body temperature reached a low of about 82 when they found you. That's about two degrees over unrecoverable, or at least very low chances of recovery."

"Oh." Sweets said realizing now the serious situation he had been in.

"Your temperature raised to about 85 when here but only to about 87 a while later. The doctor here, and myself, didn't want to chance it. We recirculated your blood out of your body and back into it after warming it. When that did not give us the results we wanted we initiated a more aggressive procedure called extracorporeal rewarming. This infused warm fluids into your abdomen to increase your core temperature."

"And that worked." Sweets asked to make clear.

Cam smiled. "You're here."

"Thank you." Sweets said suddenly feeling tired. His chest was starting to hurt some, he assumed it was from the procedure Cam was talking about though it all started to get blurry.

"We're glad you're here Sweetie." Angela said holding the bandage that held Sweets hand. "And getting better. I uh…Sweets?"

"Huh?" Sweets asked. The pain was getting a bit worse now. He started to feel like something wasn't quite right.

"Sweets?" Cam asked now alarmed.

She began to push the button to call for help. Sweets eyes began to fade and close. Cam jumped up to get help that wasn't coming fast enough.

"No Sweets." Angela said adamantly as she tried to keep him from sliding off to the side. "Dammit Sweets I promised, I promised…" She said her voice fading and machines beeped in alarming pitches. She didn't hear her phone buzzing with Hodgins calling.

* * *

"Aren't you going to ask for a lawyer?" Booth said walking into the interrogation room to talk to Theodore Edwards.

"The only one I know is Phillip Harding. Do you think he'll represent me?" Edwards asked sarcastically.

"Well let's start there, why did you kill his daughter Anna?" Booth asked trying to keep his cool.

"Same reason as the rest of them."

"So you admit it."

"Yes. I have nothing to hide. If you caught me fine, if you didn't I was going to keep at it till I was done. You caught me when I was done. Good timing by the way."

"Another agent almost caught you before I did." Booth was almost proud when he said it.

"I figured someone must have stopped by the cabin. At first I thought it was just an avalanche but then I figured an avalanche wouldn't have stolen my bed sheets." Edwards answered in such a calm tone that Booth found t strange.

"That agent almost died." Booth seethed.

Phillips looked surprised. "I'm sorry about that." Edwards said thinking it over. Booth got the impression he was genuine when he said that. "I had nothing against him. I hope he's okay."

"What about those girls, they…"

"They were monsters." Edwards said his concern fading to absolute hatred.

"They were young."

"There were too far gone." Edwards said sitting up straight, eager to have something to say. "There wasn't a person in this world who would stop them from what they were doing."

"I don't agree with the teasing that they did to your daughter, but what you did was take it too far."

"Teasing? You think this was about teasing?" Edwards asked.

"Then tell me what it was about."

"They raped my daughter." Edwards said and looked away, the memory nearly bringing him to tears. "Yeah, they tricked another girl at the school to help her with directions. If she did that for them, they wouldn't tease that girl anymore. She wouldn't admit to it to the cops of course, but she had to come clean to me." He laughed as though it was supposed to help some. "Yeah, they paid her and got a group of boys to do the rest."

Booth wanted to ask why because it was so unfathomable.

"My business started to go downhill. I asked the dean for a little help on the tuition. I don't know if you much about Wilton Heights but let's just say, I found out they don't do that sort of thing. Once it got out that we had money troubles, well no one wanted anything to do with us. Those parents who invited us over to their mansions, on vacations, business deals, everything, they locked us out cold. Things just got worse after that. They teased Molly more and more but I told her it was going to be over soon, business was going to get better. Stupid optimist I was. Molly went along with me, held her head up high. I guess it pissed those girls off that she wasn't going to break." He paused to look at Booth to emphasize his point. "My guess is _they _took it too far."

"I went to their fathers. I couldn't prove it since the girl wouldn't speak against the others who put her up to kidnapping Molly. You really want to know what their fathers said agent Booth?" Booth had a feeling he did not but he nodded. "They were practically proud of them. They were proud that their daughters were showing signs of being cut throat business people. In the Wilton Heights world, it was sink or swim. They saw us as sunk."

Booth understood why Edwards implicated the fathers in the murders.

"And the cops, why did you redact the claim?"

"By the time I found out what had really happened, not a random act of violence, Dean Anthony had made me a deal that I could have one month of tuition free if I redacted it. He didn't like it hurting the community. He said I could have one month to catch up. What a joke, I redacted it, a week later that girl came and told me what really happened."

"Why the rope from the school?" Booth asked considering what was left to have an answer to.

"The school's motto, 'the tie that binds'. I came to talk to Dean Anthony about what the girls had done. I was at the end of my rope, so to speak. He didn't care, he wanted his tuition check or we had to get out." He shook his head at the memory. "I was walking by the doors when I heard the bells ring and went into the tower. I suppose you could say it was divine intervention.

Booth was about to preach on the subject when the man continued.

"I had a plan that day. You know when those girls died….one, she laughed. The whole time. She thought it was another one of the girls trying to get back at her. She had no sense of reality."

"Where is your daughter Mr. Edwards?" Booth asked.

"Gone, gone far away." Edwards answered.

"I'm going to need to talk to her."

"Sorry, no can do." Edwards said leaning back in his chair. "Once I had the plan I sold the house, took a little out for the cabin, sent her and my wife away."

"Did she know what you were planning to do?"

"I'm not entirely sure I knew what I was going to do. Revenge I knew, and I knew it would be damaging."

"So you're not going to tell me where they are."

"Agent Booth I gave them the money and told them to go and not look back. I don't even know where they went."

"I don't buy that, you cared for your daughter and your wife. They would want you to join them."

"I knew from what I was going to go thru with that we could never be a family again. With what they did to my daughter, I don't even know if she was able to pick up the pieces again, but I had to give her a shot. And keep it from happening to any other girls like her. Daughters who would have to run into their own home and tell their fathers they had been raped by a group of boys. You ever had someone come to you like that?"

"So you're a martyr in your eyes."

"Agent Booth, do you have a daughter?" The man asked.

The conversation ended.

* * *

Booth walked out to the hall to see Brennan and Hodgins waiting as they had been listening in.

"Wow." Hodgins said breaking the silence.

"Booth…" Brennan began but Hodgins cell phone interrupted her.

"Oh hey Ange, I tried to call earlier…what?"

Hodgins closed his phone.

"Sweets went into cardiac arrest."


	11. Chapter 11

11.

"What the hell happened?" Booth asked as they got back to the hospital. Cam & Angela were standing outside the room and looked up at Booth's eloquent question.

"I thought he was fine, what…" Booth seemed to lose steam in regards to yelling between it being a long and arduous day and the fact it was two in the morning.

"I knew it was not uncommon for this to happen, I was just hoping it wouldn't." Cam said.

"Well how is he?" Brennan asked skipping the disclaimers.

"He's stable. They were able to intervene in time. They are keeping him under observation. In addition to this they are concerned over the possibility of another arrest, pneumonia…"

"Well shit Cam I didn't know…" Booth began upset and angry.

"Look!" Cam said but immediately stopped as the tears started. She couldn't keep it together anymore, she had been staying strong but now was too much. Booth immediately stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her as more tears fell.

Dr. Carter stepped out of the room and cleared his throat.

"I'm moving him right outside the nurse's station and have a constant watch on him. I'll let you see him for a few minutes but then you all need to go home. Visitor hours are much past over and honestly you all look like hell. It would be best to be well rested for the next time you see your friend." He said it to deter their requests to stay as he could tell they were about to. "You can see him briefly tonight, but make sure to keep him calm. No more case solving today." He warned and left down the hall.

They walked in the room to see Sweets sleeping though his breathing still seemed labored. Sweets woke up to see everyone standing there.

"Hey guys." He said trying to sound casual. His chest felt sore, like he had been zapped. "Did you catch the guy?" He wanted to rub his chest but his movements were still awkward with the bandages on.

"Yeah, we did." Booth said. "Thanks you to your help."

Sweets was shaking his head as though he had little to do with it but Cam stepped in. "Let's talk about the case later." While she knew Sweets would feel relaxed that they caught they guy, she also knew he would want to offer more insight, though against doctor's wishes.

"Is everything okay?" Sweets asked in a dry voice. He noticed everyone was staring at him.

"Yeah, we just, it's been a long day and we wanted to see you, say good night." Angela said trying to keep emotions from rising and causing suspicion. Luckily Sweets was too tired to notice.

"Oh, I'm fine. You guys look tired, you should go home." Sweets suggested. They smiled at the suggestion and the near look of old Sweets, the one more concerned about them than himself.

"Good night Sweets." They said and left at the same time his eyes slid shut.

* * *

"Oh, good morning." Booth said stepping in Sweets room. He was surprised that Sweets was awake and it appeared had been for a while.

"Good morning." Sweets said back looking up at the agent standing by the door. "What's up?"

"Nothing's up Sweets, just came by to see how you were doing this morning."

"Oh." Sweets said surprised. Booth didn't like that Sweets assumed he was there for something more like work. "I'm fine, just, uh sitting here." Sweets added while trying to slyly stuff his bandaged hands out of sight. Booth didn't notice Sweets do that as he came closer.

"You uh, look better, you looked pretty pale yesterday." Booth said stepping closer though he was still slightly uncomfortable. He didn't know what to say but he really wanted to be here.

"Oh, uh, thanks." Sweets answered back. He could sense Booth's discomfort but he was too tired to offer to discuss it. He appreciated Booth being there but he also hoped he would leave. He didn't like sitting there in a hospital gown while Booth was dressed in a suit. "I feel better, still sort of tired."

"Good morning." A nurse said entering the room. "We have a great breakfast here for you, it will help get your strength back up." She announced setting it on the table and pulling it close to Sweets.

Booth could tell the hot meal was sitting under the cover. As the nurse left Booth wondered why Sweets hadn't started eating when he remembered his bandaged hands.

"Should I uh…" Booth started but he really wasn't sure what to suggest he do- get a nurse, offer to help? It was too weird to offer to help another guy eat.

"No, I'm not really hungry." Sweets said pushing the table back some. Booth knew it was a lie since Sweets couldn't stop staring at the plate. Sweets was indeed starving since he hadn't eaten in so long and the whole event had taken such a physical toll. But he wasn't about to ask Booth to help him. Instead they sat in an uncomfortable silence for a moment.

"Well I'd better go, maybe I can tell a nurse to stop by…" Booth began but Sweets shook his head.

"No, I'm really fine Booth. Thanks though. Tell everyone hi." Sweets said and offered a consolation smile.

Booth nodded and left. He walked down the hall and got in his car. The whole time he thought of Sweets sitting there with a hot breakfast getting cold. All because he was too proud to offer to help, and Sweets too proud to accept it. He backed out of his parking space and pulled away and all the while couldn't shake the thought.

The thought of those people who turned their heads at the notion of helping Edwards because it wasn't socially acceptable came to mind. Helping Sweets eat breakfast would be seen as too socially weird, and Sweets knew that and felt it as well. So instead Booth thought, he was uncomfortable and Sweets was hungry when he needed to eat. Booth prided himself on not letting his people be hurt, by fighting for the underdog and by not letting a social standard bother him. He realized he had just failed on all those at that moment.

He turned the car around.

* * *

Booth walked down the hall for the second time in the same hour and walked into Sweets room. He paused quickly at the sight of Angela, helping Sweets with breakfast. As he stepped in they almost acted like he had caught them doing something suspicious as they almost stopped eating immediately.

"Good morning Booth." Angela offered.

"Angela, uh, hi." Booth said trying to rethink what he was about to say. "What are you doing here this morning?"

"Well I wanted to see how Sweets was doing and thought I could help." She said though Sweets was busy looking away. He didn't like sitting there being fed in what to him seemed like feeding a baby.

"I guess I was hungry after all." Sweets said and Booth realized he seemed to feel guilty about lying about not being hungry.

"Sometimes it takes me a while to get hungry too." Booth said. "And that sucks with your hands but you know they'll get better."

"Yes, but right now that's what friend are for, right Sweets?" Angela said arranging some eggs on the fork. Booth could tell this must have taken some coaxing to allow Angela to help him

Sweets nodded slowly as though still trying to accept that notion. He didn't want to look at Booth while Angela held out the eggs, it felt humiliating. Booth was about to address that when Caroline Julian walked in.

"Oh good, my favorite case closers." She said stepping in. "I like cases where they confess, signed, sealed and delivered. You know if you could line up all cases like this I would appreciate it." She paused looking over at still recovering Sweets. "Well, not exactly like this." She said thinking of what Sweets had to go thru.

"So we're all good then?" Booth asked turning his attention to Caroline.

Sweets and Angela resumed their routine of eating with less attention drawn to Sweets. Angela watched Sweets eyes search the plate for an indication of what he wanted a bite of next. He was too timid to say anything. She was glad he finally let her help, she wanted to help, after she was so late in getting back to help him yesterday. She still carried guilt about that. She had wanted to talk to Sweets about it but Booth had shown up.

"Yeah we're closed on the case." Caroline continued. "I just wanted to see how the boy wonder was doing."

"Better." Sweets said acknowledging her question.

"Good morning." Dr. Carter said stepping in. "I don't want to interrupt your visit on these non-visiting hours." He said sarcastically knowing they would continue to ignore them as much as he allowed them to. "But I do need to take Dr. Sweets for a couple of tests."

"Tests, what tests?" Angela asked, red flags instantly going up.

"Just routine after an incident such as this. Are you finished Dr. Sweets?" Dr. Carter asked motioning to the half-eaten breakfast.

"We're only half way thru." Angela protested.

Sweets nodded that it was fine, that he was finished. The sound of the word "tests" even "routine" did not increase his appetite any.

"It's not uncommon during recovery to not be hungry for full meal. We'll get there." The doctor promised. He waited and the visitors realized he was waiting for them to leave. They bid their farewells and walked to the hall.

"Do you think the tests are all really routine?" Angela asked as they walked out.

"I didn't question it till now!" Booth exclaimed.


	12. Chapter 12

12.

"So we haven't turned up anything yet on Molly Edwards or…" Brennan said but Caroline stopped her as they walked in Booth's office.

"What do you mean chere?"

"Angela was continuing to search for the daughter and the mother." Brennan explained. "It's not an easy task but I'm sure with Angela's skills…"

"Yes, Angela's skills are exemplary, and expensive." Caroline began.

"What are you saying Caroline?" Brennan asked with Booth across from her.

"Just this, he confessed. Case closed." She explained. "The department of justice is on a budget, just like everyone else. Bringing them in is going to take a lot of time, and a lot of money. Time and money that could go to solving a lot of other cases."

Brennan wasn't sure she was comfortable with that, it wasn't complete in her mind. Caroline could tell.

"Look chere, Angela can spend days finding them and she probably will. But the cost to bring them in a question them on a topic they probably know very little on, only to further a case we have a signed confession on, it's not a reasonable expense in the bean counter's books."

Booth agreed. "He's confessed. And he did it to keep them out of it. If we bring them in, make that girl live thru that all again, take their money away and leave them with nothing, find out what her father did."

Brennan nodded in agreement having deterred to Booth's suggestion.

"I need to get back to the lab to overlook some remains for the Jeffersonian. I'll let Angela know." Brennan said as she left. Caroline took her leave as well.

The case in its entirety had left some questions for them all in their own ways, and there was only one person who could answer them for him.

Booth cleared off his calendar and left for the hospital.

* * *

"I'm looking for Dr. Lance Sweets?" Booth asked the nurse after finding an empty room. He surprised even himself when he used Sweets full name.

Before the nurse at the station could answer he heard Sweets voice, "over here Booth."

Booth rounded the corner to see Sweets in scrubs and a white tee leaning against the wall with one hand on the chair rail that lined it.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Booth said catching up to the slow moving object.

"Oh, I just wanted to stretch my legs." Sweets said slowly shuffling forward.

"Shouldn't there be some sort of therapist or something?" Booth asked looking around, a hint of concern in his voice that suggested he was ready and willing to chew someone's ass if needed.

"No, they were busy, which was fine, I just wanted to go for a little walk. The doctor suggested I should get some circulation in my legs." Sweets explained.

Booth noticed that Sweets was putting a lot of weight on his hand that ran along the wall. While the hand was cushioned in the bandage Booth could tell that Sweets was pushing himself a little far to be doing this.

"You should have seen what I had to bargain to get some pants and a top." Sweets joked. "I sure as heck wasn't going to moon the hall as I walked around."

"Yeah no one wants to see that." Booth joked though he kept his hands out of his pockets, ready to steady, catch or do whatever if Sweets needed it.

"How is the case? You said it was all wrapped up or something?" Sweets asked still moving slow. Booth looked along the quiet hallway, keeping an eye on Sweets who was tiring but was trying to hide is as much as he could. It was quiet so he knew they could talk easily but he still found it hard to say what he wanted to. "Yeah, the guy he confessed. You were right you know, about the daughter, Molly Edwards, she didn't fit the mold. He did it for her."

"He killed the girls for her?" Sweets asked pausing. Booth noticed that Sweets wasn't as steady as a moment ago but he was looking to the end of the hall and figured that must have been his goal.

"They teased her, they took it, well too far. I guess, I can't stop thinking about…"

"What you would do as a father?" Sweets asked and Booth didn't even have to nod. "Booth you're a good dad. And I'm more than sure that you would figure out a way to make someone pay without ritualistically killing a series of people."

Now it was Booth's turn to pause. While he had sympathized with the father's rage but not the method. In a few short words Sweets had accurately pinpointed Booth's uneasiness about the outcome with simplicity.

Sweets was now a few steps ahead of Booth so he caught up.

"How is Angela?" Sweets asked.

"Fine I guess, why?" Booth asked confused.

"Seemed like something was bothering her." Sweets said now slightly out of breath but nearing the end of the hall.

"I think she feels guilty, that it took her too long to get back to you." Booth said watching Sweets closely.

"Oh." Sweets said as though it hadn't occurred to him. "That makes sense. I mean, her behavior fits that explanation. Though she has no reason to. I'm fine."

"You didn't look so hot when we found you." Booth said. "No pun intended by the way."

"Oh well, she needn't worry." Sweets said feeling now like the end of the hall would never come. His arm was really hurting and he wasn't so much gliding along the wall for optional support but leaning heavily on it for needed support. "I can talk to her about it next time I see her, she shouldn't feel bad."

"Sweets." Booth said slightly exasperated causing Sweets to stop and look up questioning him. "You shouldn't do that. Look, it's not always up to you to make us feel better."

"Sure it is. That's actually my exact job description." Sweets said leaning against the wall with all his tired weight now.

"Well, what I mean is, we should be doing that too. We should ask you. I know how you feel and I know how all guys feel and…"

Booth was rambling, he knew that but he couldn't figure out how to say what he wanted to about the silliness of social taboos and being seen as weak.

"What I'm saying is…" Booth said but stopped as he looked at an exhausted Sweets who Booth realized had reached his goal of being at the end of the hall. He respected Sweets and he cared for him. Booth reached an arm out and pulled Sweets in for a manly hug.

"Whoa, what's…" Sweets said surprised.

"I'm just, I'm here for what you need." Booth said backing up out of the hold but keeping one hand on Sweets shoulder to keep his wavering body from toppling over. "People shouldn't worry so much about what people think and instead on what kind of support friends need."

"Like Edwards." Sweets said guessing where some of this was coming from.

Booth looked past Sweets and saw a red swear along the last section of the wall. He thought that odd that no one would have noticed that and looked back to Sweets whose arm was dripping with blood from his cut. A few of the stitches had come open and the pressure on his arm on the wall for support had made it open again.

"Nurse!" Booth called and Sweets looked down at his arm and held a look of surprise.

Booth didn't want to walk away for Sweets was about to fall from the exhaustion and now the blood loss. No one was coming and Booth felt a near panic.

"It's fine Booth, I can make it." Sweets said reaching his left hand out to steady himself along the wall to walk back.

Booth knew that wasn't going to work well since Sweets had no energy left but Sweets tried anyway. Booth put his arm around Sweets shoulder to shift the weight back towards him. Sweets was trying to keep his bloody arm away from Booth's suit.

"Don't worry about it kid, it's just a suit." Booth said wondering where the damn doctors were.

"Booth?" Sweets said, his voice light. "I think I have to sit down." Sweets said and immediately dropped to the floor and leaned against the wall in a sitting position. Booth was half relieved because now he could get help faster.

When Booth returned a moment with the nurse and doctor following he noticed how calm Sweets was, sitting on the floor, holding the left hand bandage over the right cut to stop the bleeding. It was however, too much red on the bandages on the shirt to make Booth feel at ease.

The nurse brought a wheelchair that was close over and despite Sweets efforts to stand himself up he ended up in the chair due to Dr. Carter and Booth swiftly placing him there.

Booth followed them back to Sweets room in a distance where the nurse swiftly removed the bandages and discarded the bloody material. Booth saw Sweets red and puffy hands now that they were visible.

"They're healing quite well." Dr. Carter said and Booth wondered if he were assuring Booth or Sweets. "This arm however is going to need new stitches. Walking is okay, but we're going to remember not to push it." The doctor mildly reprimanded him.

Sweets was about to argue but Booth stepped forward. "I'll go with him tomorrow." Booth knew Sweets was going to protest that he was not a child nor did Booth want to minimize Sweets achievement of walking his goal, despite the bloody aftermath.

"Just think, you got really far today, with me, you can go twice as far tomorrow." Booth promised. Sweets smiled as he realized Booth was true to his word about helping others. And this was something Booth was comfortable in helping others with.

"Sure, we can finger paint in another hall." Sweets joked and Booth smiled but the doctor and nurse only stared at him suggesting it wasn't funny.

"I'll get a clean shirt." The nurse said still shooting Sweets an ill look. The doctor went to pull on Sweets shirt but he pulled back on it.

"It's chilly, I'll wait till she gets back." Sweets said and the doctor shrugged.

"I'm going to leave the bandages off for a while and bring in some packs to allow the swelling to go down. Let me know right away though if the hot/cold bothers them, they will be more susceptible to the temperatures right now."

Sweets nodded and the doctor left as Angela was coming in.

"Hey Sweets, whoa, what the hell?" She said noticing the blood on Sweets shirt.

"It's okay, just a little accident." Sweets said trying to calm her down quickly.

Angela looked at Booth as though he played a part in the scenario.

"Well you know how stubborn he is." Booth said as his phone rang. He stepped out. "Yeah Bones." He said as his voice faded in the distance.

The nurse came in the door and sat down the shirt on the bed and began to pull Sweets off.

"Thanks, perhaps it can wait a moment." Sweets said and the nurse understood that he didn't want to change in front of a friend and left.

"Oh non-sense Sweets." Angela said setting down her purse and immediately began to pull off the blood dripped tee.

"No, it's fine, I can wait…" Sweets was protesting but a maneuvering an unruly toddler had given Angela plenty of practice to swiftly remove the top.

She had the shirt off his head and had slowed it to remove if more carefully over his arms when she saw his shoulder blades, scarred with the past. She paused at the surprise of seeing it but tried to promptly move on having figured that was the reason for Sweets reluctance. She couldn't help but wonder what would have made such old scars but if Sweets hadn't mentioned it in the last several years of their knowing each other she was pretty sure he didn't want to now.

"Here. Nice and clean." Angela said now even twice as gently maneuvering the clean tee on. She knew those scars were old, but they still hurt just to see them.

"Angela, they uh…" Sweets began in obvious discomfort on the topic.

"Oh sorry to interrupt you sweetie but I wanted to talk to you about something. It's been on my mind."

Sweets was happy for the change of conversation. Maybe he would tell Angela one day, but not today.

"Look, about yesterday, man, it seems like so much longer than a day ago." She said pausing.

"Oh that reminds me." Sweets said happy to interrupt her this time. "I didn't get to thank you."

"Thank me?" Angela asked flabbergasted.

"Yes, you never gave up on me. I heard about the uh, what was it railroad song?" Sweets said smiling. "The cop, he stopped in this afternoon, before I went on my uh, little walk. He told me all about how you annoyed them all until you got back. So thank you."

"Sweets, I should have…"

"No Angela, you did everything. Thank you." Sweets said and Angela realized that the discussion was over.

Sweets blistered and numb fingers didn't hardly register than he'd sat them over her hand in consolation. He looked down and saw he had and pulled them away. Angela softly pulled his hand back and looked at them for a moment. Their injured nature made her feel sick a moment and a wave of guilt returned.

"They'll heal." Sweets said pulling them back again and pushed his hands under the blanket at his sides, out of sight. Not seeing them seemed to make Angela feel better.

"Hey that was Bones." Booth said stepping back in the room. "She's getting dinner."

"Oh already?" Sweets said wondering what time it was. "I wonder what tonight is." He mused thinking of the typical hospital offerings.

"Well that's what I was about to ask. Bones said Chinese and since she's picking it up then that's what we have to go with. Angela, Hodgins is picking up the kiddos and bringing them here." Booth announced going back to read a text. "And Cam, she says she needs to check in. But she's so thin I think she might just eat an egg roll and be stuffed, how much do you want to bet?" Booth teased though Angela shot him a look that it wasn't funny.

"No, you guys need to go home, no reason to spend time here." Sweets urged.

"Um, yeah there is Sweetie. There's one pretty good reason to be here." Angela said sitting down. Booth slipped off his jacket and tossed it over the back of a chair to get comfortable. He sat down and flipped on the TV searching for something.

"Ugh!" Booth said with disdain. "More crime shows? Geez, aren't there enough of those?"

"Now Sweets, I was thinking the doctor said that to increase mobility means your hands will work with more dexterity. And I remembered you played the piano."

"You're going to bring me a piano?" He joked as she sat in the chair next to him.

"Ha ha, don't tempt me." She teased. "Well I'm an artist so I thought that we could work on that together, we could draw or something."

"Can't we just play quarters?" Sweets said and Angela looked up at him to see a big grin on his face.

"Maybe but not here."

* * *

The little room grew cramped but no one noticed as Chinese and children arrived. Cam of course at little declaring she was full but spent most of her time chasing around the doctors and nurses to drill them with questions about the routine tests that turned out to be indeed routine and indeed just fine.

The doctor passed the full room, past visiting hours, wafting with the heavy smell of Chinese food and a group of people and kids all crammed in it.

The little girl he noticed sat on Sweets lap and preceded to shove Lo Mein noodles in. Each time his patient said he was full the little girl took direction from her mother who sat behind said patient to shove more noodles in. The patient he noticed would not deny the little girl anything. He wasn't aware Dr. Sweets had any family though she repeatedly called him uncle. A thought then occurred to the doctor.

"Good evening everyone." He said stepping in the door to the crammed room and over a small truck.

"I'm sorry doctor, are we being too loud?" Cam asked suddenly aware of their presence.

The doctor wanted to say, _yes you are loud, you ignore visiting hours, you've made the whole place smell like Chinese food._ Instead he said, "no, but I do see how much you do care for your co-worker, your friend. I had considered releasing Dr. Sweets tomorrow but if Dr. Sweets would like, I would have no problem releasing him tonight. I see the care and support he has from friends and would thus have no issue with it. Physically he is cleared."

"Yeah Sweets how about it, home has gotta be better than here." Hodgins said. "No offense doc."

"Thanks guys." Sweets said but there was a reservation in his tone. "Yeah, home does sound cheaper than health care here but I'm uh, just not sure…."

"But what?" Angela asked taking another bite of food.

Sweets could feel them all staring at him. "Well, I live alone." Sweets said timidly. "I'm not sure I can even get the key in the door." Sweets had been holding Christine on his lap. At Sweets request the nurse rewrapped his hands so no one had to look at them in their true state and possibly lose an appetite for them. He had told Christine they were boxing gloves for snow men. Sweets looked at his hands he felt were useless.

"Well dummy we weren't sending you home alone." Angela said in her own way.

"Besides Sweets I think we would all be much more comfortable gathering, such as we are now in a place much more comfortable to the rest of us as well." Brennan said knowing that if she appealed to the side of Sweets that was eager to please those around him he would agree more readily.

"So how about it Dr. Sweets?" Dr. Carter asked.

"I can't be a burden to anyone." Sweets explained.

"Friendship is never a burden." Brennan said picking up Christine from Sweets lap. "Now come on Christine. Uncle Sweets has to get ready to go."

"I'll get the paper work." The doctor said taking his exit and Sweets realized his mind had been made up for him.

* * *

Ta da! Well I wasn't going to have it end with a fluffy sort of caring thing but I'm a sucker for friendship.


	13. Chapter 13

_If you haven't been following along completely (shame on you! :) ) here are some other sweet stories by….me! So out of curiosity, if you've read them all, what's your favorite?_

The Mist in the Box (my first one!) - Sweets is inflicted by a mysterious poison

The Title in the Story - Sweets takes Brennan's place when a killer makes Booth choose, he ends up being cut up some.

The Sequel to the Story - Sequel to the above when Sweets is still haunted by the feeling that Booth would not have chosen him. We meet Emma, Sweets new secretary with a complicated past and a serial killer from the grave - Pelant.

The Question to the Answer - Sweets & Emma date, return of the past for Sweets with torture.

The Car in the Lake - Sweets seems to be sick but won't tell anyone.

The Explosive in the Situation - Sweets involved in an explosion.

The Psychologist in the Institution - Sweets gets maliciously admitted to an asylum and endures electro-shock therapy.

The Chill in the Air - Tracking down a killer, Sweets is trapped in an icy cabin and gets hypothermia

The Murder in the Family - strange multi decade case

The Bank in the Heist & The Clue in the Profiler - the first one little story about a bank heist & Sweets gets shot. Followed up by a far darker story in which Sweets is kidnapped and profiles the killer's murders live.

The Choice of a Family - Sweets attempts to help a young but instead gets beat up by the gang and then develops a drug addiction.

The Tierney in the Image - It appears Booth has tried to kill Sweets in order to keep him safe.


End file.
